Souvenirs
by Nefer Lio
Summary: After a trip to Chin, Korra brings home a souvenir and Asami has to deal with it. But there are other mementos from the past that keep bubbling up - and not all of them are good.
1. The Souvenir

"Asami", an over-excited Avatar screamed as she entered the Sato Mansion, then almost flew up the stairs to the office her girlfriend worked in. The engineer sat at her desk. In front of her were two men in business suits who looked really important. The three of them were discussing something while pointing at some papers in the middle of them.

"One moment", the heiress excused herself and went to greet Korra. The blue necklace she had around her neck made the Avatar smile. They had not been able to get legally married, but nobody could forbid the Avatar from giving her girlfriend a betrothal necklace.

Asami greeted her with a hug, then stated: "I thought you were to arrive in the evening. I'll need one or two hours at least."

"No." All three business people looked confused at the Avatar, but only her girlfriend knew that she was usually surprisingly patient when it came to waiting for Asami for the benefit of Future Industries. And even though she had been away from home for two weeks, her refusal made no sense. "I've something for you", Korra explained in an unusual earnest tone, "and I have to show it to you NOW."

Asami bit her lip in thought, then turned to the men: "We'll have a short break. I'll be right back." As she followed her girlfriend out of the room, she motioned for her butler to care for her guest. "I really hope this is important", she murmured, already bugged because she just knew it was not.

"You know how we were sent to mediate in the civil war over in the town of Chin", Korra started while walking back to the entrance, "I think we did a good job, but even before we arrived a lot of people had died."

"What has that to do with anything", Asami wanted to know as they arrived at the front door; her tone had calmed down since she could see the war had worn Korra out, but after her question she smiled brightly.

"Everything. You'll see. Close your eyes!" Asami did. "Now open them."

As she opened them, she took a step back in shock and almost fell. Korra had a small toddler on her arms, with brown skin as hers and dark hair. As the little girl looked at her with a shy expression, she saw the green eyes - together with the Earth Kingdom cloth the heiress assumed the kid was of mixed heritage.

"Who...who is she", she stammered, unsure of what to think, if anything.

Korra just smiled: "She is one of the children that lost her parents, and the orphanage can't possible house all of them. I wanted to bring all children to live with us, but instead…" She trailed off, but Asami understood: the girl caught her eyes because she looked as if Korra and Asami could have been her parents - if either of them had been born a male.

At this point she wanted to scream at her impulsive behavior or even hit her, but she just could not. She saw how the child clutched to Korra, and even thought it was a reckless and stupid stunt, she could not be mad her. So she went over to hug the other two.

"Hi there", she said as the girl looked at her, and then to Korra for guidance.

The Avatar smiled at the little one: "That's Asami, the one I've been telling you about." The kid nodded and made an adorable greeting gesture together with a half bow.

"What's you're name", Asami questioned and noticed how her own smile got bigger.

Korra almost jumped up and down at this, but let the girl do the talking: "Tara."

The heiress mouthed a "no way" to Korra, but she just nodded, still bobbing up and down: "Her parents named her Katara, after our dear old friend."

This was nothing very surprising - whenever one public beloved figure died, the people started naming their kids after them to honor them. And sadly, Master Katara's death had been four years earlier, colliding with the birth of the little one.

"It's really good to meet you, Tara", Asami said and caressed the child's head.

"So… uh… we keep her, don't we", Korra asked, a bit unsure, but got a playful swat against the arm not holding the kid and a stern announcement.

"Of course!"

Then Asami's gaze wandered to little Tara, and she tried to imagine herself as mother. That's when the door on the upper floor was slammed. One of the business man appeared on the top of the stairwell with a questioning look.

"I'm sorry, I have to", Asami told her girlfriend and kissed her cheek, then hugged the kid, "she's really the best surprise ever. Just show her everything while I get the suites out. We'll go shopping for toys and cloth and everything later."

She jogged up the stairs, flashing her business partner an apologizing look: "What do you know, my wife just had a baby."


	2. Not Thinking Things Through

Some hours later, Korra and Asami sat in one of their guest rooms, backs to the wall. This was to be the new room for Tara, and they had tried to make the child feel welcomed. The room was now filled with toys and clothes, the bed linen and curtains were colorful and the rugs had flowers on them.

Moving all this stuff in had exhausted them, so they had decided to take a quick rest. Tara sat to Korra's side, and after drinking some sweetened tea, had flopped to her lap and was now sleeping.

It was the first time the two women had to talk in private in weeks.

"You didn't think this one through, did you", Asami questioned, having taken her girlfriend's hand.

Korra shrugged in response. There was no real question, she rarely did. "I tell you, it was horrible. The orphanage could house maybe 20, 25 children. There were 50, all of them hungry. If it weren't for Tenzin I would have taken all of them home." She sighed in frustration. "But I kinda left my allowance there."

This was no news, either. Whenever she went somewhere, Asami gave her a generous sum so she could buy food, a hotel room and other essential things. Korra had not even once spent the money on herself. Normally she would give it all away the first two days of her trip. The rest of her trip was spent basically living on the streets - only that she was the Avatar and the people in general were hospitably towards her.

"But as I went to leave the orphanage, I saw her. And she just looks so much like us. And I know how you always wanted a kid. And she's named Katara. I don't think it's a coincidence." The Avatar stroked the girls hair and looked at her girlfriend. She smiled.

"Could you promise to not bring any more kids home", Asami had to try it, but seeing Korra shake her head did not matter to her either, "yeah, thought so. But please wait till we get settled in with having one child. You know, normally you have like 9 month to get ready."

Korra grinned: "Everything goes faster when you're with the Avatar."

"So, how do you think raising a kid with both our jobs will work", Asami decided to tackle the elephant mandrill in the room headfirst.

"I talked to Tenzin, the world is pretty safe", Korra said and moved Asami closer to her, "short of another war breaking out I'll stay in Republic City for now."

"That's great, but does not answer my question", Asami said, kissing Korra's cheek.

She looked baffled: "When I was a kid, my dad always took me with him to his meetings. And the Avatar stuff is not dangerous, it's just boring."

"You think they'll have a toddler at government meetings?"

"They gotta deal with it. She's the Avatar's…", Korra's grin had suddenly faltered and Asami realized that Korra had not brought the kid because of some unsatisfied maternal feelings, but really because she wanted to keep Tara safe. Looking at the Avatar's face she saw that she now realized for the first time she was to be a mother, and she was terrified.

"...daughter", she tried to help, but got only a frightened look.

"I really didn't think this through. I can't be a mother!"

Asami laughed lightly and hugged her: "Now it's too late. It happened. We're parents." Just the sentence made her skin crawl.

"How would she even call us", Korra said in horror and her girlfriend smiled softly.

"She called you Korra earlier, didn't she?"

The Avatar got a bit calmer, and a lot sadder as the answered: "She's just lost her parent's… I didn't want to rush things. I told her I want to care for her, and figured she would probably ask to call me mom on her own. Someday." She looked at Asami. "But now YOU are here. I didn't think of you…" Asami mumbled a "thank you very much". "...we can't both be mom."

"Why?" Korra looked confused. "I know a family where the son was named after the dad. And whenever the mom called their name, both would react, or neither."

The confusion did not leave. "We'll figure it out when she wants to call us her mothers, okay", Asami said, smiling, "is there anything else?" Korra was now rubbing her forehead with her hands.

"I'm so sorry", she said, "I really should have talked to you before."

"Yes, you should have."

There was a rather long silence, where both looked how their daughter slept and went on their own trails of thought.

"Do you need to hold a press conference", Asami asked finally.

Korra shrugged. "I guess I have to. I'm just not sure if I want to see Tara's face in the newspaper."

"If you want to take her to your Avatar stuff the press will get to her anyways."

Tara stirred in her sleeping place. "Hey sleeping beauty", Korra said surprisingly gentle, "you need to get up, else you'll not be able to sleep tonight. Again." The girl rubbed her eyes and Korra took that moment to make another confession: "She might want to sleep with us."

The night came, and Tara begged to sleep with the Avatar, as she had presumably done for two weeks. So with a sleeping child between them, the women laid in bed and looked at the ceiling. They knew what they usually did when the Avatar returned from a trip. Now they just could not.

So with a big sigh both of them finally said: "You/I really didn't think this one through."


	3. Souvenirs of Former Times

Asami stretched as she woke up one morning. The bed next to her was empty, as always. It had been months since Korra had brought the kid home and all of them had settled in.

Korra always carried out early-morning exercises and Tara had been with her from the beginning. She was now in a phase where whenever the Avatar waterbended, she splashed water from a bucket around. When she earthbended the girl threw pebbles and mud around.

A look out the window made Asami realize she had to hurry. Her girlfriend sat on the lawn cross legged, meditating peacefully. On her lap sat Tara, more cuddling than anything else. There was a small water bubble floating in front of the kid and she swatted it. This was a trick Asami had seen for some weeks now. She had not even known you could meditate and bend at the same time, but evidently nothing was impossible for the Avatar.

Nonetheless, this exercise was the last one, and after that the two would storm in and demand to be fed. So she jogged down into the kitchen to get breakfast ready.

"Asami, I'm hungry!" Just as she thought.

"Sami, hungry", the little voice belonged to Tara, of course.

Korra looked surprised down at her: "What happened with 'mom'?"

The kid looked up and thought, then repeated: "Mom, hungry!"

All of them were in a weird places right now. Some days earlier Tara had asked if they were her mothers and why she was calling them by their first names. They had told her she could call them whatever she wanted to, giving her options like "mom", "mommy", "mama" or "mother".

The following days Tara had alternated between these words, as if trying to find the word that felt right for each woman. When she had called Korra "Sami" for the first time, they had realized that maybe it was a bad idea to give her so many choices. So each had chosen a title and both tried to get her to use these. Whatever the outcome, they had already decided the next child would have to deal with the two words Tara now choose for her parents.

While Tara brought the plates over to the table, Korra tried speaking to her girlfriend: "Uh, Asami? Could you take her for the day? I've got a meeting with Raiko, and he's always kinda annoyed with her." The CEO nodded, albeit a bit sad.

When Tara entered the room to get the next item, she kneeled next to her and asked friendly: "Hey sweetie, do you want to stay with me in the workshop today?"

The somber truth was that Asami already knew the answer. Korra had done her very best, even giving her the evening ritual (bathing and story time), but the child always preferred her, as she had been living with her two weeks all alone. So even though Asami had her share of caring for the child whenever the Avatar was not able to, Tara never willingly choose her over her "first" mother. "Jealousy" was a pretty mild word for what she felt.

"Can we have noodles", Tara asked, which made Asami's eyebrows shoot up.

"Sure… do you want to stay with me?"

"Can we make a car", it was the next question, which got a prompt reply.

"I was planning to."

"Can we make it red?"

Asami bobbed the little girls nose and told her with a bright smile: "Keep your good ideas for when we get to the workshop." Then she hushed the child to the table, stood up, and almost made Korra fall over with a sudden jump to her neck.

"Did you hear", she questioned with a monstrous grin, "she wants to stay with me. For the first time ever she WANTS to stay with me." Korra did not say a thing but hugged her and kissed her back, clearly happy for her.

They had just sat down at the table, when Asami slapped her forehead: "Oh Korra, I forgot, I have a meeting in the afternoon."

"Then I'll take her after dinner. I've a meeting, too, but they love her at City Hall", Korra answered while slicing a fruit for Tara.

Asami had nodded at that and taken the first glance into the paper, when she thoughtfully answered: "Maybe I should try it, too. Taking her to the meetings, I mean. Today she could learn a lot about urban planning… if she can stay awake."

A wild caught got her attention, as Korra choked on a piece of fruit. After she had calmed, she stammered: "You're in THAT meeting? Vines and power lines and stuff? I think we have the same one!" They looked at each other surprised.

Korra was the first to get her voice back: "So that means you CAN take her, doesn't it?"

* * *

><p>Working with Tara was really amazing. Not only was she well behaved, she seemed to instinctively know when she should be quiet. Explaining all the various parts on the new Satomobil made Asami realize how stupid some of her ideas sounded. Together with some ingenious questions of her daughter (like "Where do you put the baby?") she actually had the feeling the morning was a lot more productive than most other mornings in the workshop. While cooking their meal she was not able to refrain from praising the kid, which made her giggle in pride.<p>

Then there was the dinner, noodles as per request. Contrary to her dark skin or her name Tara did not like Water Tribe food at all, but preferred Earth Kingdom noodles. This suited well with the CEO of Future Industries, since she herself was not exactly a fan of seafood or raw meat.

When she drove to City Hall Asami got visible nervous. They wandered the building and when they finally arrived at the reserved room, Tara ran forward knowing exactly what was awaiting her. The child was greeted at the door by Republic City's Chief Urbanist, Gai, with a deep bow and a hand gesture: "Avatar Junior, what a pleasant surprise."

Tara held her fingers in front of her mouth and giggled. Her mother, still 10 feet behind, could not keep from smiling. She knew how much her daughter loved her "honorary title". The urbanist's brows rose in shock when he saw her: "Oh, she's with you? I thought… uh… sorry." After he saw her bewilderment he questioned: "Should I have called her 'little Miss Sato' today?"

"Big Miss Sato" just laughed at that. "Don't take her title away, I'd never hear the end of it", she explained to him, "she's still the Avatar's daughter."

Gai nodded, then he looked inside the meeting room (it was empty, save for Tara who had found crayons and paper) and down the hall (empty as well), then asked quietly: "But she is YOUR daughter, too, isn't she?"

Asami was a bit taken back by the question, but nodded. The man just smiled warmly and patted her arm in an encouraging gesture, then let her into the room.

"Tara, where did you get the crayons", she asked as she realized her daughter was now sitting at the table and drawing on some paper (she feared they were important documents).

The kid did not even look up: "They're mine." Asami looked at Gai, who just laughed.

"They ARE hers, Korra brought them in when she first started bringing the kid", he explained mildly amused, "actually, she has a bunch of toys around here as well, since almost all the member of the city government have brought her little presents to help her stay quiet." Asami looked at him baffled. "She's a charming girl", Chief Gai explained.

The next person entered and greeted the two adults at the door: "Chief Gai, Miss Sato."

He then went to his seat, when Tara climbed on hers and bowed to him: "Chief Cho."

Cho just smiled at her and repeated the gesture: "Little Miss Avatar. I told you, I'm not a chief."

"To me you are", the kid responded and sat down, starting to draw again. He just laughed, got to his seat and started scanning his documents.

After that, the room started to fill with people. Surprisingly, each one respectfully bowed to the little girl and nobody seemed to really care for a child at their meeting. After a while, Tara got impatient and went to tug on Asami's clothes: "Where's mama?"

She got a short response: "I'm sure she'll be here soon."

The next person entered and greeted; after he went away Tara frowned. "You're Sami", she told her mother, who just looked down at her confused.

For a moment she had no idea what that was about, when she remembered the last greeting. Kneeling down, she explained it: "No, Tara, in these halls I'm 'Miss Sato', just as mommy is 'Avatar Korra of the Water Tribes'."

"Water Tribes", Tara repeated frowning, then her eyes lit up: "And Tara's 'Avatar Junior'!"

"You're a bright girl", Asami told her and rumpled her hair.

As Asami stood up, Korra stepped confidently into the room. When she saw her family her confidence immediately fell. She tried to hide it by greeting the man next to them: "Chief Gai, always a pleasure."

"Avatar Senior, the pleasure is mine", he responded without missing a beat.

Korra looked over to Asami, unsure of what to do. How exactly do you greet your girlfriend in an official city meeting? That was when Tara stepped up and greeted her with a low bow: "Avatar Korra Water Types."

The named person had a hard time not laughing at this, as she greeted the remaining persons with the same respect: "Avatar Junior. Miss Sato." She squeezed Asami's hand awkwardly when passing by and went to speak to Cho.

"Can I have your attention", Chief Gai raised his voice and waited until everyone had taken a seat and looked at him. He nodded to Asami: "We have with us Miss Sato of Future Industries, I'm sure all of you know her." After that he spoke about why all of them had gathered. There were problems with the Spirit Wilds: The vines expanded, but so did the city, and while the Spirit Wilds were a big tourist attraction, its growth sealed parts of the city of from getting enough water and electricity. The statements about the current situation ended with a question: "Avatar Korra, do you think we will be able to prevent the Spirit Wilds from spreading?"

Korra had a pained expression on her face as she answered: "You know, we tried it some years ago. I don't think it's possible. We have to somehow build around it." Some of the men nodded, some shook the head, only one person dared to answer.

"No, Avatar Korra, that's just not possible. You have to find a way to get the vines to move", it was Asami who spread a map on the table for all of them to look at. She wanted to state her reasons, but a gasp had made her lose her train of thought. Everyone was just staring at her with an almost frightened look, then they started glancing at her girlfriend.

That was when she realized: Everyone knew of them. And because of that she was not supposed to tell Korra she was wrong. But another thing hurt her more than she cared to admit: She actually thought everyone knew that she was wearing the pants in their relationship.


	4. The Idea

After that the meeting was long and useless.

Asami had shown where the current power cables, water supply lines and sewer tunnels were located on the map. Only very few could be expanded, none of them led to the districts sealed off from the rest of the city. She explained (and Chief Gai confirmed) that there was no way to add any more supply lines into the ground, because being near the sea they could just not dig deeper, or else the city might fall into a giant sink-hole.

Korra on the other hand told them how the Spirit Wilds were actually energy leaking out from the Spirit World, and whatever she did, she would only add more energy. That was why whenever she tried bending the vines they would grow back with double the force. She could not tell if the growth of the jungle would ever stop, but the only option she saw was to relocate the supply lines, or failing that, the entire city.

After hours of talking back and forth there was burdensome silence, only interrupted by the clacker of Tara playing with some toy Satomobiles in a corner of the room.

Suddenly Asami sprang to her feet, exited. "It's so easy, really", she told everyone. They just looked at her surprised and groggy. "Korra", she started, but heard Tara correct her absentmindedly, so she repeated, "Avatar Korra, the law of conservation of energy!" Korra feigned understanding, but good for her, her girlfriend knew when she was faking it. "If adding energy makes the vines bigger, then you should just remove the energy to make them smaller", she explained it with a big smile, which Korra was not able to share.

"I'm not sure I can do something like that."

"And I think the second law of thermodynamics agrees with her: Heat cannot flow from a colder location to a hotter location", one of the men added in thought, "so energy cannot flow into the energy-rich Avatar."

Everyone sighed in frustration. For a moment there, everyone thought they could get this meeting over with. "But", Asami asked, "doesn't the second law say 'spontaneously'?"

"You know what - first thing tomorrow, I'll just try", Korra stated while putting the hands on the table and standing up, "as far as I can tell I'll defy the law of gravity all the time, that thermodynamic thing might not be a problem at all."

"Avatar Korra, with all due respect", it was another one of the team, a tall man with Fire Nation heritage, "what if you are still not able to do it? We do net a backup plan!"

"We can talk about it tomorrow afternoon, after she tried", Chief Gai told them, nodding towards Tara, who was now laying half asleep on the floor, "some of us need our rest."

At least some of the other men seemed not convinced. "It's not our fault the Avatar didn't get married before having kids", one of them said grumpily.

Korra was not able to let that one slide: "Yeah, right, since you're at home covering your wife's back and looking after the children.

"Darn right! If the Avatar was MY wife I'd be home with the kids", he spat, and somehow he seemed to accuse Asami which made the Avatar even angrier.

Because she could go off any moment, Gai interrupted: "Lets meet together tomorrow at two. Who won't be able to attend?" He jotted the names of the two men who showed their hands. "And who will meet up with Avatar Korra tomorrow morning?" Nobody moved. He looked at Asami questioningly and she nodded after a moment of silent conversation with her girlfriend. "So the four of us", he gave Korra a smile, and before one of the other men complained, listed the names: "Avatar Korra, Avatar Junior, Miss Sato and me. Now dismiss!" The following words were spoken a lot quieter and more to himself: "And please get food and sleep until tomorrow…"

The other men quickly left the room, while Asami picked their sleeping daughter up and Korra put the toys away. When they were about to leave themselves, Chief Gai stopped them: "Korra, don't let them get to you. There might be some more meetings with you and Miss Sato, so you should get used to them sassing you."

The Avatar breathed out loudly."It's just not fair!"

"It's life", he told her while chuckling, "now get your darling little girl to bed." She bowed to him while Asami just nodded, since she was holding the child, and they left.

"He's right, though", Asami told her when they were moving to the Satomobile.

Korra looked at her with a frustrated expression, almost pouting: "It's so weird with you there."

The CEO laughed loudly: "I know. But I think we were good back there."

"Even though technically not agreeing", Korra stated, a wicked grin on her lips, but she got corrected quickly.

"We agree on doing what's best for the city."

"Do you think they know", Asami questioned after a moment of hesitation. The other woman looked confused, so the CEO pointed at herself and then over at her, mouthing: "About you and me?"

"Gai knows", Korra stated with a shrug, "he said I talked about you as if you were my wife. I have no idea what I said." She paused for a moment, then continued: "The others… I really don't know. The entire city knows we're living together, but they might as well think we're really good friends."

"We are", Asami just confirmed absentmindedly.

Their relationship was no material for a romance novel, that was for sure, but it might make for a good children's book about friendship. It was no love at first sight, it was not even love at the first thousand sights. They travelled a long time as friends, as great friends, even as best friends. They yearned for the company of the other, and both were driven by the need to not lose another loved one.

So naturally, Korra fought the urge to destroy their friendship for a relationship; she just valued her friend so much more than her weird feelings. Asami on the other hand had an entirely different problem: She was just not interested in girls that way. She had never been before, and would never be after... just this one time.

They fought for a long time alongside each other, but not together. Only when they shared their troubles curiosity took over. And then there was a first date. No romantic candle light dinner with a kiss at the end - it was a night in the probending arena and an awkward goodnight at the docks.

They were pretty happy there were no stories about how they struggled with the physical side of their relationship. Even though neither had a sister, they had always thought their first kiss would be like kissing a sibling - but they were wrong, making many awkward dates worthwhile with how very wrong they had been.

Even after the first hurdle it was not all cloud eating and moonlight punch. They fought with anxiety, with their expectations and with what the people thought of them.

And when they finally became content with each other, they decided that no, they would not fight anymore. The Avatar would not come out of the closet and fight an ridiculous battle to get the world to acknowledge them as a couple. They were happy as it was, so they kept quiet.

And so they would not use the "plus one" option to social events, and when they were both invited, they would not hold hands, kiss or dance. After all, both of them had their own share of work to do. Neither was paid to flirt with her partner.

While a close observer might have noticed something, most just saw them as friends. And they always took a weird bride in people assuming they were just that. After all, they were.

Korra and Asami had arrived at the Satomobile and the latter was putting Tara into the backseat. "I was very, very surprised how well behaved Tara was at the meeting", Asami said, still somewhat in shock.

Korra just grinned while getting into the car: "Didn't think I had it in me, did you?"

"Actually, no, I didn't", she answered in all honesty while sitting down behind the steering wheel and buckling up. Korra, of course, pouted, until her girlfriend grabbed her head and planted a kiss on her lips.

"You're the greatest mom ever." The Avatar looked weird, having a dorky grin and still furrowing her brows.

When Asami turned the ignition, she finally found words: "I thought you were mom, and I was mommy?"


	5. Team Avatar Reassembles

Asami was awaked by an earthquake and dull noises. She looked around and saw she still was in her workshop. After arriving home, an idea for getting rid of the vines had popped into her head, and she had moved to the shack next to her mansion immediately after tugging Tara in. She looked her prototype over and was happy to see it was almost finished.

Then she glanced outside and saw that Korra and Tara were sparing; earthbending, to be precise, that was what had woken her. So she stretched her tired limbs and moved to the kitchen, so everyone would be ready to meet with Gai later.

* * *

><p>"It's almost like the olden days", Asami said while the little family drove towards the meeting place.<p>

Her girlfriend had a puzzled expression: "What do you mean?"

"You know, Team Avatar", she said laughing, "you and me, driving around town, restoring peace and harmony."

Korra's face lit up as she thought about that, but after taking a look at their backseat, she said: "I'm vaguely aware that Team Avatar had two more players. Bolin and you-know-who." Asami laughed at that. Some years ago they had decided to never call Mako by his name anymore after all they had been through.

"We'll get new members", Asami stated matter-of-factly with a small grin, which made Korra laugh.

"Can we go back to probending, too?"

"I think you're too old for that", came the flat reply, that made the Avatar complain loudly.

It was not long until they had arrived at the Spirit Wilds. They helped Tara out of the Satomobile and moved to greet Chief Gai, who was talking to another man and coordinating some policemen to block the area in case something went wrong again. Only when they came close they saw who was with him: it was you-know-who.

"Mako", both of them screamed at the same time and went to hug him, then greeted Gai a lot more respectfully.

"Asami, Korra", the firebender greeted back, "it's so good to see you. It's been way too long." Both women felt immediately guilty.

When they had started dating, neither of them had the guts to tell their ex-boyfriend about it. They figured they would tell him when it started getting serious. When that happened, they could not bring themselves to do it because they felt like they should have told him a long time ago. Fortunately after that it became easier, since they started seeing Mako less and less. The last time one of them had seen him had now been a year ago. The last time all of them had hung out was before Korra had moved in with Asami.

"And who's the lovely lady", Mako asked friendly while kneeling down to Tara.

"Avatar Junior", the girl proudly exclaimed.

Korra added: "Her name's Katara, she's… my daughter."

"Wow", Mako looked really surprised at Tara, then her mother, then back. After doing the math, he just grinned sheepishly: "Man, it's really been way too long. I didn't even know you had someone in your life. Who's the father?"

Korra took a deep breath and looked at her girlfriend. She was determined to just say it, but Tara was quicker: "My daddy's dead."

"I found her in an orphanage in Chin", the Avatar added, her determination gone. A quick glance to Asami told her she was not going to do the talking this time.

"So, Korra, are you ready to try", Chief Gai questioned, not rudely, but he did not seem to want to spend the day talking about personal matters. The woman in question nodded, then moved with Gai to a position between the channel and a house heavily infested with vines.

"Can you believe it", Mako stated with a still surprised look, now straightening his back, "Korra being the first one of us to have a kid."

"Believe me, I was as surprised as you are when she told me she had adopted Tara", Asami pressed, still not able to tell him the truth.

Mako smiled earnestly: "But I'm happy for her, really. So the two of you are still close, I get it?"

"Yeah, you could say that. We meet regularly", was the quibbling answer, which got quickly corrected by Tara.

"And you sleep in one bed."

The most amazing thing happened: both Asami and Mako got red really fast and looked at each other like the cat deer into the oncoming Satomobile.

Mako squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, looked away, looked at Asami, opened his mouth, closed it again, and then started at the beginning.

She just shook her head to clear it and put her hand on his shoulder: "I'm so sorry. We meant to tell you a long time ago, we just didn't want to hurt you."

"You and Korra", he mouthed and looked over to the Avatar, who was preparing something, "you, Asami Sato, and Korra, the Avatar?" Asami nodded sheepishly. He would probably have asked three more variations of the question, if Tara had not started bobbing up and down.

"Mom, look! Korra's bending", she excitedly exclaimed. Indeed she was.

Korra had used the water from the channel to once again engulf the vines in long strands of the liquid. But instead of having the energy flow from her to the vines she tried draining the vines. The water lighted up starting at the building and the energy moved towards her.

When the first energy hit her she changed into the Avatar state - it looked quite involuntarily. She absorbed some more energy and flames started to form around her - Chief Gai had to jump back to not get ignited. After some more seconds a tornado appeared around her, now forming a burning spiral.

Another moment passed and the vines started retreating. Suddenly the earth started shaking, the epicenter clearly around the Avatar. With each passing second her body started to tremble more and more, until it shook violently. When the earth split from the canal to Korra to the house with the vines she collapsed.

"Korra", all of them screamed and ran over, just as she moved herself to a sitting position inches from the big crack in the street. Asami was the first to try to hug her, and Korra's "Wait!" came moments too late - when the women touched a spark threw Asami three feet backwards.

The Avatar struggled to her wobbly feet and went over to help her girlfriend up: "I'm so sorry, are you okay?" Asami held her arm and did not need to say anything, since Korra just took it, moved the sleeves up and started healing the reddened skin with some water.

"You broke the ground", Tara stated, matter-of-factly, standing way too close to the big crack in the earth and looking down. Chief Gai snatched her and brought her over to the other people before anyone else could react.

"That was way more energy than I could ever burn", Korra stated, still in the process of healing Asami, but every now and then glancing over to the vine infested house, "can you see if the vines grew back already?"

"No, it looks good", Mako stated, still a bit overwhelmed with the entire situation. Korra nodded determined: "Then I'll try that again." But first of she flopped to the ground, crossed her legs and started meditating. Tara shrieked happily and sprang into her lap, getting herself in a similar position. Even though her face should have been plain, a small smile appeared on the Avatar's face. As it vanished, some of the water formerly used to heal Asami made its way to hover in front of Tara.

"Do they do this a lot", Mako questioned quietly with an amused smile, and Asami laughed.

"Every single morning." They watched the kid play with the bubble.

"I didn't know you could meditate and...", Chief Gai wanted to say, but got interrupted.

Korra had opened an eye to glare at them. "Do you mind", she questioned with an irritated tone of voice, then closed her eye again. Some minutes passed in silence until she was finished. The water bubble fell to the ground and Tara got tossed to her other mother, then the Avatar got up.

She went over to her girlfriend with the kid and put her hands on her shoulder: "I know this is going to be hard, but please don't touch me for a while, okay?" Asami just playfully glared at her.

Korra shooed them away and took her place as before. Now, instead of confronting the vines, she stood sideways. It started like the previous try: The vines were engulfed in lines of water, which started to glow and stream into the Avatar. Only this time instead of taking the energy in, she tried redirecting it - her left arm shoot crackling lighting into the air.

The three adults watched in shock at that massive outburst of raw energy and Tara started to cry in fright, forcing Asami to take some more steps back. "She won't be able to do this for long", Mako said to the other man and he was right, only moments later Korra collapsed again, this time not even able to sit up as before.

Again all rushed to her, this time wary to touch her. When the Avatar's aching muscles only spasmed, but did not allow her to get up, Asami shoved the child into Mako's arms and went to help her girlfriend up anyway. If she got a shock this time again, she hid it well.

Korra had to be supported to even sit, her limbs were still shaking from the electricity. She was still able to glare at Asami: "What did I tell you about touching me?"

"I just wanted to tell you you had to go another time", came the short reply, after which the CEO left to get her prototype from the car.

The Avatar looked after her baffled, mumbling something along the lines of: "This woman is going to be the death of me."

Chief Gai just laughed at this and patted her shoulder: "So? At least you'll die happy."


	6. We Need To Talk

"So I was neither able to absorb the energy of the vines nor to redirect it", Korra summarized her discourse to the members of the city government, "but now maybe Miss Sato could tell you what she did."

Asami nodded and put her prototype on the table. Some of the glasses rattled and the only reason the one closest to her did not fall was because someone was waterbending its content.

The prototype was big can with various wires sticking out. The only thing even close to being interesting was an electric socket in the front. The really important part of this monstrosity was on the inside, but that was Future Industries' secret.

"This prototype stores energy chemically, but is able to…" She plugged a lamp into the socket of the box - it lit up brightly. "...convert it into electric energy. I call it the Satomulator." She looked at the faces - nobody dared to laugh, all looked quite impressed. Not like a certain girlfriend when she had told her the name before.

"When Avatar Korra told me she wanted to transform the energy into electricity, I was reminded of a friend telling me how physically draining the process of redirecting lightning was. So I thought maybe other forms of energy would be better suited." She took a deep breath and smiled widely: "And it turns out they are. Korra was able to charge the Satomulator without problems, and this time almost no one got hurt."

While it had bugged her the day before, now she liked the frightened faces of the men whenever she quipped at the Avatar. These were the faces of men who feared her because she would not avoid confrontation with the world's most powerful human.

"So what are you proposing", it was Cho's question, "you build some more of these… things and put the Avatar on charger duty?"

"That's not going to happen", Korra stated and stretched. She was bored senseless with all the meetings she had to attend to - there was no way she would agree to such monotonous work.

As if on a hidden signal the men turned from her to Asami, as they assumed she would tell her off yet again. She tried to hide her smile as she answered: "No, I don't think this will be necessary. The city will lend the Avatar to Future Industries and our finest engineers will find a way to drain the vines of energy without anyone present… or maybe with just a waterbender. In return we will remove all the vines you seem fit, and keep the Spirit Wilds constantly drained, so that they will not take over the city."

"So what's in it for Future Industries", Chief Gai questioned politely but firmly.

Asami's lips curled into the smallest smile: "Why, the electricity of course."

"Seems fair to me", Gai said and nodded, but got interrupted.

"I think they should power public buildings like the hospital for free." All turned to Korra, who had just spoken. "The Spirit Wilds don't belong to anybody, so at least part of its energy should be for everyone."

The Chief urbanist shot Asami an almost apologizing look, probably before he remembered who she was, but she just nodded genuinely convinced: "She's absolutely right. We'll do just that."

"Very well", he said with a sigh, "I'll talk to President Raiko about lending the Avatar to your company, and we'll have a binding contract ready by then." He looked at the clock and smiled. "So I guess today we'll make up for the long meeting yesterday. Dismiss!"

The room emptied almost immediately. "Sweetie, the meeting has ended", Asami told Tara, who had been drawing the entire time and reacted confused.

"Already? I'm not finished." Unfazed, she painted one of her figurines.

Korra leaned next to her against the table, arms crossed, and looked at her girlfriend: "The city will 'lend' the Avatar out?"

"The Avatar is public domain", Asami answered with a smile, "but you can be glad. You'll meet out best engineer. I think you'll like her."

Korra looked taken aback, because she heard the flirtatious exclamation, but could not puzzle together why she would like another woman. Then it clicked, and she grinned widely. There were no words necessary after that. Except for: "Tara, I'm counting to three, then you'll be finished, or else…"

* * *

><p>"We need to talk."<p>

The words still echoed in Korra's mind as she paced through the living room. Asami was still in Tara's room, reading her a story. It was their special bonding time, and the CEO had never even once missed it.

Bored, Korra went to the liquor cabinet and made two drinks and put them on the coffee table. That's when Asami entered and let herself fall onto the couch.

"So…. you still NEED to talk", Korra questioned, giving her the glass with the golden liquid, "and not, you know, WANT to talk?" Asami sighed and downed the drink, tugged on her girlfriend until she was sitting next to her and moved her hands to her thigh.

"Korra, you saw what happened today. You shocked me. Twice", she started and Korra looked more like a defiant child.

"Because you didn't listen to me. You shouldn't have touched me."

"You were in pain", Asami stated, it was no question, and the next sentence also was just a statement: "I love you and I can't sit idle while you are in pain." The Avatar sipped on the other drink, a clear liquid, as she continued: "And if we are half decent parents, our daughter will one day feel the same for you. Maybe she already does." She took a deep breath. "I don't want her to get hurt. And I don't want her to see you get hurt. So I won't allow you to take her into the field, again."

Korra's eyes widened: "What do you mean?"

"I don't want you to take her with your on your Avatar duties", Asami stated, matter-of-factly, and moved to get the two bottles over to the table.

"That's stupid", Korra exclaimed, already angry, "she's been with us for months and she never came close to being hurt!"

"Today she was", Asami stated, first pouring Korra, then herself another drink.

"She was not", the Avatar's face was hard and determined, "I'd rather die than have anything happen to her."

"You said the same about me", came the reminder while the CEO drank again, "and you shocked me. You think Tara would have survived this kind of electricity?" There was an oppressive silence after this question.

"You know what", Korra spat, suddenly jumping up from her seat, "you're just jealous! Because Tara always liked me more than you!" While the electric shocks in the morning had been very painful, they were nothing against what these words did to Asami.

"Of course she likes you more", Asami yelled, now very angry as well, "remember how you adopted her without even telling me? And how you two spent weeks in Chin already living together while I didn't even know Tara existed? And when you came back you took her with you every single day? It's surprising that she even knows my name!"

Korra huffed angrily at the last sentence, then screamed: "I'm so sorry I want to spent time with my daughter! But you didn't even WANT to take her to your company! Whenever you had to watch her you just went to your workshop."

"Because the entire world knows she's the Avatar's daughter", Asami shouted, still angry, but her voice started cracking as if she was about to cry, "how should I explain why I brought YOUR kid to work? Or why she's calling ME mom as well?"

"You don't need to answer to anybody", Korra argued, but got interrupted.

"Yes, I do! Most people do actually, because we're not the freaking Avatar!"

"So now you're jealous of that as well", the Avatar said laughing harshly, "what's next? You forbidding me to bend?"

Asami just left the room without saying another word, tears streaming down her face.

Korra's first impulse was to go after her, to heal where waterbending would not do any good. But instead she sat back and drank some more.


	7. Working Together

Asami laid in bed without being able to sleep. She had done everything: She had cleaned herself up, had gotten into sleepwear, she had even read a chapter of her favorite book, but now, even though she was tired, she was not able to drift off.

It was not as if she was still angry with her girlfriend. It had been two hours, and her wrath had subdued by now. She just knew Korra would finally come around to apologizing, since she always had. And really, it was a stupid fight to begin with: Korra might be stubborn, but she was not stupid, there was no question she would agree with her once she cooled down.

A knock on the door startled her. Usually only the butler knocked, since neither Korra nor Tara were patient enough to wait for an answer.

She looked down, she was decent… enough. "Come in", she said, and the door moved an inch, maybe two, and a silhouette slipped in. She knew this person. Very, very well.

"I'm so sorry", Korra stated and seated herself on the edge of her side of the bed.

Asami just sighed: "How many drinks did you have?"

There was a long silence; maybe the Avatar just counted very slowly. "Not nearly enough to forget you are my everything", Korra finally stated, "I'll do as you told me to. Don't worry, I'll sleep on the c-"

Asami grabbed Korra's arm quite rudely and pulled her next to herself. "Don't you know you should never go to bed angry", she told her, now that their faces were almost touching.

Korra just looked away: "That's why I'm sleeping on the couch." Her voice sounded slurred.

"Are you angry", Asami asked, stroking her girlfriends cheek.

She just got a really quiet reply: "With myself."

There was a long pause. "I love you."

"I love you more." Another long pause, where both realized none of their problems were solved.

"Can I at least take her to the meetings", Korra finally asked.

She sounded really sad, so Asami was not able to tell her off even if she had wanted to: "Of course."

"And where will she stay when I can't take her", she asked, eyes half closed.

Asami sitting up startled her. "That was actually what I wanted to talk to you about", she said, pulling her knees up so she could rest her arms and head on them. Korra did not like the sound of her voice at all.

"I want to quit", Asami stated.

Four simple words, but to much for the alcoholized Avatar: "What?"

"My work at Future Industries", Asami looked up at that to take Korra's reaction in.

"But you love your company", Korra stammered, unsure of what to say, "it's the last thing you have from your family."

"That's not entirely true", her girlfriend told her, fishing the betrothal necklace from the nightstand and laying it gently between the two, "you're my family now. And Tara is, too."

Korra was skeptical as she sat up: "So you want to sell Future Industries?"

"No, I'll name a new CEO and just stay at home", Asami said, smiling, "or over at the workshop." Since there was no answer, she just continued: "I thought the Satomulator could be the last design I did for the company." The Avatar still looked confused.

There was a silence. "Korra", Asami questioned, since she could not see what her girlfriend was thinking for once.

"I didn't know you wanted to be a stay-at-home mom", Korra finally said.

Without warning, Asami put her leg across Korra's lap: "I didn't know either. I just want someone home for the kids, and I don't see you giving up being the Avatar."

Korra had taken one of the feet in her lap and started massaging it absentmindedly. She suddenly stopped and looked up: "Kids? Like in plural?" The CEO just grinned and moved to kiss her.

In the end, Korra did not need to go back to the couch. She slept right there - her head in the crook of Asami's neck. And both of them were comfortable with it.

* * *

><p>Korra groaned when she realized she had to parallel park in front of Future Industries.<p>

A week had past and today was the first day she was official "lend out" to the company. Of course it also was the day she had to have an appointment crosstown until lunch. So while normally Asami would take the car and Korra a cap, they had switched their mode of transportation. And now she had to park. She thought about just leaving the Satomobil in the middle of the street and pulling the "I'm the Avatar" card later, but she would die a horrible death if something were to happen to the car.

So she did what she always did: She jumped out of the car, and moved it into the parking space via earth and metalbending. Tara, who still sat in the car, cheered happily. Pleased with her work she got the kid out and moved into the factory property.

She knew she already was an hour late, and constantly taking wrong turns in her search for the correct room did not help at all. Suddenly she stood in front of another child, a boy, probably the same age as Tara.

A woman came from a neighboring room and pulled the kid into it again, mumbling: "I told you to stay inside!" Curiously Korra and Tara followed. The room was full of toys, colors and most importantly: children. Tara began to clap happily, entered the room and started to play instantly.

"What is this place", Korra asked the woman, who seemed to be the only adult around.

She smiled: "It's the kindergarten." The Avatar furrowed her brows. "You know, more and more women need to work, but can't because they have nobody to care for their children. So at Future Industries our workers bring their kids with them, and we take care of them."

Korra's face brightened up at that. She thought that was a very nice idea. "So... can I leave Tara with you", she asked, seeing as her daughter was having so much fun.

The woman's eyes focused on her: "And you are?"

"Uh...? The Avatar", Korra more or less asked, since she had not needed to introduce herself for some years now, "I was lent to Future Industries for some weeks."

"I'm so sorry, Avatar Korra", the woman bowed and made the greeting gesture of a subordinate, "I always figured you were taller."

"But I'd be honored to have your daughter here", she quickly explained, while making a welcoming gesture. Korra thanked her quickly and explained the situation to Tara, then jogged out the room.

Halfway through she stopped and turned again, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly: "Sorry, can you tell me where I'll find Miss Sato?"

* * *

><p>"You're late", Asami stated when Korra finally found her in a big hall with weird looking machines all around.<p>

"Yes, sorry", Korra answered while looking around, "I thought I'd schmuse with the big cheese around here to make up for it. A sudden hiss from Asami made the Avatar face her. The engineer pointed with her head at something behind her - there were people. Evidently flirting was out of the question.

"So where's the kid", she asked, trying to hide her concern as much as possible.

She got a shrug in response: "Did you know you have a kindergarten?"

"You didn't...?"

"Actually, yes, she looked happy, and there were other children around to play with."

Asami moved closer and just whispered: "We talked about it! What if she tells somebody I'm her mom, too? We decided we didn't want to fight the press!"

"What is she going to tell", Korra questioned good natured, "and by the way, you should really stop whispering, because that's suspicious."

With a groan Asami stepped towards the machine she had been working on earlier. It was a bigger version of her prototype - a giant bin on wheels. She was working on a switchboard on one side of it.

Korra moved closer to her, looking over her shoulder at what she was doing. "What do I do", she questioned frowning at the cables, "last week you didn't seem very happy when I shocked you."

"I didn't know when you'd arrive, so I didn't think of what you should do yet", Asami stated icily while she soldered on some of the cables. In return the Avatar pouted at the back of her head.

When nothing happened, she sat next to the machine, leaning against it. She was already bored. "Hey Asami? Is this going to be lucrative for you", Korra asked as she earthbended some dust bunnies over the floor, "even without the hospital paying for electricity?"

"Korra, you're asking this question a week to late." The Avatar thought about if she would be able to icebend her girlfriend at the moment. "But yes", the icy women finally answered, "if everything goes according to plan, we can buy a Satomobile made of gold."

"I'd rather not. Gold is way harder to bend." Asami whirled around and put her hands on her hip.

Angrily focusing on Korra, she ordered: "You shouldn't bend my baby!"

"Then you shouldn't make me parallel park it."


	8. Icy Bliss

It had been hours since they had started working on the Satomulator together. Well not so much together, since Korra was asked by another engineer to help her out. She might not be Future Industries best engineer, but at the moment, Korra liked Zan a lot better. The woman seemed to be a big fan of the Avatar, so while Korra sat on a second Satomulator with a toolbox and threw her whatever she needed, they talked.

"I can't believe I'm working with the Avatar", Zan almost shrieked, not for the first time.

Korra looked over to where she assumed Asami was working and scrunched her nose: "Not everybody is so glad to have me here."

The engineer just followed her gaze and smiled: "Oh, you know how she gets when she's working. Screwdriver." Korra threw her the tool, and Zan threw it back into the air, where it bended back into her hands. "No, crosstip."

So she gave her the next screwdriver the same way. After her new friend seemed happy, she answered: "No, actually I don't. We never worked together like this. Last week was the first meeting where we both had to attend." She grimaced when she remembered. "I thought it was very weird. How do you even greet your friend in an official meeting?"

"How do you guys usually greet?"

And with that, the very nice conversation had turned for the worse, since suddenly the truth was not an option anymore. Korra cleared her throat, then spoke: "We hug, I guess." There was an awkward silence, just because she made it awkward.

"You know, I've been following you ever since you came to Republic City", Zan finally said and suddenly looked as if she had gotten an electric shock from the machine, "I mean, in a totally non-crazy, non-stalker kind of way." The Avatar did not seem to mind either way, she just laughed at her, so she continued: "I'm curious… what element did you bend first?"

"Fire", came the quick reply, "my parents had a big fight about it, too. But I gotta hand it to my old man: He trusted my mom enough to send for the White Lotus before I could bend a second element." Both smiled at each other for a moment, smitten by the unwavering trust and love. "Luckily I learned the other two elements just in time."

"And you only mastered airbending after you've been here for a while", Zan asked, followed by a plain: "Five-eighths inch wrench." Korra threw her a tool, which came back immediately: "No. Five-eighths." Another wrench flew her way.

"It wasn't even so long ago", Korra answered and saw the engineers head pop out of her working place, curiosity plain on her face. "I probably wouldn't have mastered it at all, but Tenzin was adamant that I passed the airbending test before I moved out."

"Awww, so you mastered it for the boss", Zan had a weird dreamy expression, and Korra felt the need to correct that one.

"More for myself. I've never backed away from anything. But yes, after that I moved in with the boss." The Avatar smiled to herself, because she somehow like that nickname for her girlfriend.

There was another pause, because the engineer was working on a tricky part of the machine. The tongue hanging out of her mouth told Korra she did not need to engage in a conversation at the moment.

When the tongue was gone, the Avatar spoke again: "But why are you asking me all these questions? You could have asked Asami, she knows this stuff as well."

"Oh, the boss does not want to talk about you." Now that hurt more than Korra cared to admit. She knew they needed to be somewhat careful, but that was ridiculous.

"Korra, could you came over for a moment", Asami's voice echoed through the hall as she yelled. Of course, Korra ran swiftly over.

When she was close enough, Asami pulled her behind the machine, so the others would not see and hear her, then hissed: "What are you doing?"

"I'm helping Zan fix the Satomulator", Korra answered with a helpless expression, "because you didn't have any work for me, do you remember?"

The CEO looked at her angryly, and suddenly found out they were standing way too close for "just friends", so she shoved the Avatar, then coldly declared: "We hooked this machine to that part of the vines. Just try to get the energy to flow into the machine, I want to see if after that the Satomulator is able to drain the vine on its own."

With a grumpy expression Korra did as she was told. Of course, the moment she stopped bending the energy flowed back into the vine. Asami just groaned in frustration. "You want me to get you a tea", Korra questioned, unsure if she had anything to do with her girlfriend's mood. As the CEO waved her off, she yelled: "Hey, Zan, you want some tea, too?"

"Sure, thanks Korra!"

And so she was gladly off to search the confusing corridors of Future Industries for a drink.

She was not gone long, when a new woman entered the hall with a crying kid. The engineers working in the hall turned and groaned as one.

"Boss, we have a problem", the woman said and Asami turned around. The moment she did, her heart broke, because she saw that the weeping kid was hers; she moved to comfort the child without thinking. Now she remembered the woman was the kindergartener, Aiko or something like that.

"The Avatar has brought her daughter, but did not come for her after work", Aiko told her, "all the other kids are long gone, and I just want to go home, so I thought…"

"Just leave her with me, and go home", Asami said smiling gratefully, "and thanks."

Aiko was about to leave, when the first of Tara's sobbs became words. "She… she...she said… you weren't… my… my mom", the kid bawled her eyes out. Asami froze.

Aiko turned again, an almost apologizing smile on her face: "Yeah, I think she kinda got you two confused. She's the Avatar's daughter, isn't she?" The CEO was well prepared to answer this question for the purpose of her own exoneration… but not when her only child stood next to her with the same question on her face.

So she took Tara in her arms and walked over to the kindergarten teacher. "Uhm, the thing is, she does kinda call me mom", she explained quietly and then quickly added, "but sometimes 'Sami'. She's not committed to either name yet. So if you could just keep this one quiet… please?"

Aiko's face had clenched up at her explanation, but she shrugged half heartedly: "Sure, whatever you say, boss." With that, the kindergartener left.

Asami sighed in relief. When she looked at her daughter, who had finally stopped crying and was now hugging her tightly, getting snot and tears all over her overall, she decided it was time to clean the kid up. After that was done, she sat her down next to her machine and started working again.

And that was when the Avatar strolled in, a big grin on her lips since she had finally succeeded in finding her way back. As she saw Tara she happily moved over and kissed the little girl's forehead, then went to give Asami one of the cups of tea.

At this point Asami was more than frustrated, she feared for her reputation and she was probably overworked to begin with. So she did what she thought was right - she threw the tea back at her girlfriend. And in the next second cursed that darn Avatar and her freakingly good reflexes and that stupid muscle memory of hers. But really, she could only blame herself. She had three years of living with the Avatar - three years in which she should have learned you could never, ever throw something at her face and have it hit her. She bended everything - dishes, because they were made of clay, apology bouquets returning to her, because plants were 70 percent water and even most of the cutlery. For everything else she just bended the air around the object to prevent it from hitting her.

Now without even thinking she had bended the tea into a neat little ball before her surprised face. Unsure of what to do next, she just put the tea back into Asami's cup.

"What's up with you", Korra questioned, trying to not raise her voice.

Her girlfriend just looked angrily at her and hissed: "The kindergartener made Tara cry because she told her she should not call me mom!"

"Oh."

After some moments, were Korra did not seem to speak up, Asami spat angrily: "That's all you have to say? 'Oh'? That's exactly what I told you would happen!"

"So what", Korra answered, "you pay her! She'll keep quiet!" Asami groaned at that.

"Really", she asked, not even angry, but now in utter disbelief, "you've been arrested, you've been betrayed, you've been almost killed for doing what's right. Multiple times. And you REALLY think some random stranger will just 'keep quiet'?"

Korra nodded stubbornly and was about to answer, when they heard Tara was crying again. Both immediately turned, their angry faces fell like masks. The Avatar was the first to kneel next to the child and stroke her back.

"What's wrong", she asked with the tiniest smile (which incidentally was the biggest she could muster).

"You're fighting", Tara answered, trying really hard to keep the tears inside, "because of me."

"No, not because of you", both answered in a heartbeat without even thinking.

"Having two mothers is not normal", Tara recited something her teacher had told her.

That was when Korra jumped to her feet, pushing her finger into her girlfriends arm in an angry gesture: "You know what, I'm not having this conversation HERE. I'm going home. Complain to the city, if you like!"

Asami stepped out of her overall without a care in the world who saw her until she got her plain clothes on as she answered: "No, you're not leaving with MY car without me. I'm coming with you."

Her changing her clothes gave Korra the time to jog over to Zan, who had an undefined expression on her face. There was no way knowing how much she was able to understand because of the weird acoustics in the hall and the fact that the fight's volume never went over a whisper. The Avatar put the tea next to her. "Sorry, Zan", she said, "I have to go… see you tomorrow!" And then all three of them were gone, not even hearing the funny line the engineer made.


	9. A Smash Hit

**Author's note: **To answer the questions: Asami's PMSing (I really need that word in German) is explained in the next chapter, when they talk to Senna and Tonraq. I hope it'll make sense then. But right now Korra is as confused as you are. ;)

* * *

><p>"Mommy! Bending", Tara screamed, jumping on Korra's belly. After she got no answer except for an unidentified groan she repeated: "Ben-ding!"<p>

The night before, Asami and Korra had taken a long time to explain to Tara that she was special for having two mothers, but she could actually be happy to have two people to love her and care for her. Fortunately the child had not asked if other people felt the same way.

There was no room for her parents to resolve their conflict after that, not that either was willing to. For Asami, Korra was just a child who was not able to confront the consequences of her decisions. For Korra, Asami was just overreacting, since nothing had happened yet.

So since they would not go to bed angry, Korra had slept on the couch. And she knew she could sleep in one of the guestrooms, she just felt sleeping in the living room would drive her point home. Whatever the point was.

"Bending", Tara repeated and Korra got up. She hated mornings, but she hated mornings after a fight with her girlfriend a lot more. The two moved in the general direction of the backyard, when a red flash passed them. Curiously, both peaked around the corner of the dining room to see where Asami had run to in such a hurry.

She was scanning the newspaper. First she flipped the pages quickly, then after starting at the beginning, she read the headlines more thoroughly. As she finished the newspaper for the second time, she looked almost disappointed.

"Asami", Korra asked in a worried kind of voice, and got a chuckle from her.

"There's no article about us."

"That's good news", it was a weird combination of a question and an statement.

Asami sighed in relief, then looked at the two girls in the doorframe. "You now what? Since I'm already up I'll be exercising with you."

* * *

><p>So only minutes later (after Asami had asked the butler to prepare breakfast for once) all three of them stood on the lawn and moved through the waterbending poses. Of course, only Korra was able to actually bend water, but Tara splashed the water from her little bucket around and Asami had sparred often enough with her girlfriend to know the poses by heart.<p>

"Asami, don't you think we should talk", Korra questioned after some silence.

The CEO did not even turn to face her, when she replied: "What's there to talk about? Whatever I say, you'll do the opposite."

They moved quietly, Tara watching her parents skeptically. "Sometimes I think you WANT to get caught", Asami mumbled, more or less only to herself.

The Avatar was biting her lower lip, then answered: "Sometimes, I do."

Asami whirled around with an astonished expression. Her sudden movement startled Tara, who accidentally threw the bucket with water at her when she fell to the ground. "Uh… sorry, mom", she said, but only got a very curt reply.

"It's okay, could you get me a towel?" The kid just nodded and ran off.

"You WANT to get caught", Asami screamed the moment their daughter had closed the door from the inside.

Korra just shrugged: "I think it's not feasible to hide anymore, now that we have a child." There was more than a grain of truth in this sentence, but it made the CEO uncomfortable to think about it.

"And when were you thinking of telling me about your change of heart", Asami hissed. She only got a shrug as response.

They quietly watched as Tara came out of the house again, waited until she dried Asami off with a towel and went to bring the towel back to where it belonged (or knowing the kid, the next best spot on the floor). Korra was the first to act - she bended the remaining water out of Asami's clothes and into their daughter's bucket again. It was not until the kid came out to resume the training, that Asami spoke up again: "You're right, Korra, we should talk."

Avatars Junior and Senior already practiced poses again as the Water Tribe woman answered: "What do you say I call my parents and ask them to come over? They could spent some time with Tara and we could have some time alone. You probably want to wait till you resigned before coming out anyways."

Asami nodded, but did not know what to say after that. Finally she decided on the following: "Hey Korra?" The woman looked at her with a confused expression, but never stopped the bending. "I'm sorry for being such a pest at work. I just can't afford to be sloppy."

"Don't worry, Zan already told me something like that", Korra stated, while her girlfriend went to move in sync with her girls.

* * *

><p>"Hey, you missed the exit."<p>

Some days had passed since the decision, but nothing much had changed since the South Pole with Korra's parents was multiple days worth of traveling away. Working at Future Industries was still tense. It was not made any easier since now Tara was always present and had to be entertained. Asami would not take chances by sending her back to kindergarten. Now they were on their way to work - at least in theory.

"We're not going to Future Industries today", Asami answered her girlfriends statement, which made the other two of the car's passengers cheer in joy. "We're still working." The mood fell.

"So, where ARE we going", Korra questioned.

"To the Spirit Wilds", came the reply, "I didn't know if we'd get the permissions to test the Satomulator on the vines directly, but the city approved it this morning."

If she had waited, the Avatar would have seen the destination after the next turn. A big big part of the street leading to the Spirit Wilds was blocked by policemen. Near the vines stood some of the Satomulators they had been working on, probably the most advanced ones. Engineers were moving around everywhere. The weird part was that the police road blocks were surrounded by dozens of people who were screaming as the Avatar and her family came close after leaving the car next to some police Satomobiles.

"Asami, Korra, here", they heard the scream from somewhere - it was Mako who ordered his men to make a pathway through the people for the women.

As they moved through it, they saw signs, angry faces and reporters, who immediately started asking questions: "Avatar Korra, why didn't you move the vines six years earlier?"

"Does this mean you regret opening the spirit portals?"

"What do you say to the people in the tourism industry, who will now lose their jobs?"

Korra was too confused to answer any of these questions, so she silently followed Mako to the machines.

"Mommy, what do they want", Tara questioned, following her mothers.

The addressed woman just shrugged: "I have no idea."

"You don't", Mako asked and unrolled the newspaper he was holding to show the title: "AVA-TEAR Destroys Spirit Wilds!"

"But we don't want to destroy the Spirit Wilds", Kora explained angrily, "we want to remove every vines but these. We're just testing if the machines work."

"The press doesn't know or doesn't care", Mako stated and gave the Avatar the newspaper so she could read it.

"But I gotta hand it to you", he continued after the women had started to read the article, "for living with your girlfriend and your big mouth you have managed to stay out of press trouble quite well."

"And I want to keep it that way", Asami added, giving her girlfriend a sideways glance.

A splash sound behind them made them move - the demonstrators had now started to throw fruits at them.

"Let's just get this over with", Korra stated, left the newspaper in her girlfriends hands and moved over to the Satomulators.

"Mako, could you watch Tara for a minute", Asami questioned, and after her friend nodded, "and we were wondering if you'd like to come over these days? We could catch up."

The police detective took a deep breath and sighed: "No, I don't think it's a good idea."

"But why? We used to be such good friends", Asami was visibly taken aback by his rejection.

He only nodded and quietly murmured: "Yes, we used to. But we haven't seen each other in so long. I registered when I believed that Korra could have a three year old without me even knowing." He made a pause. "And you certainly didn't see me as friend when you kept silent about Korra and you." The CEO looked as though she had just seen a ghost, and Mako used her quiet to take Tara's hand and move the kid into the safe zone.

"Are you a bender", Tara asked, not understanding what had just happened between her mom and Mako. The detective smiled at her: "Yes, I'm a firebender." The child showed him some bending poses and grinned, which made the man's brows shot up in honest surprise: "Wow, you're good. You really are the Avatar's daughter." Tara just giggled.

Meanwhile Asami and Zan had hooked the machines to one of the vines, while Korra mostly stood around frowning at what her girlfriend had told her about their ex-friend.

"Korra, now", Asami said and retreated with the other engineers. The Avatar did not take a stance and looked quite bored as she moved the energy into the machine - after days of work this was something a skilled waterbender could do, so the waterbending master was unchallenged.

The machine started to purr like a cat deer. After some moments, the vines started retreating, the machinery (now growling like a flying boar), worked perfectly on its own. Asami smiled proudly at her work, but her face fell when the Satomulator started stuttering and shaking.

Korra looked at the machine unfazed, even when it started to glow a bright white and the engineers started fleeing. Suddenly her eyes got bigger and she stomped the ground hard - a pillar of stone shot the heavy Satomulator far into the air. Asami's angry shout filled the air: "Korra, what the..." And then a giant explosion drowned her out, as the machine exploded midair, making various metal parts flitter through the air like lametta confetti. The police and Korra acted instantly - each pulled the bigger ones of the flying parts towards him- or herself so that nobody was harmed by them.

As the big parts had landed Korra moved to face the defestated engineers: "So... was this supposed to happen?"


	10. Reconciliation

The day was not about to get better. After the explosion of her most advanced Satomulator Asami had decided the other machines would not be tested, but send back to Future Industries for safety inspections. She and her family had taken the rest of the day off. When they arrived home the house was surrounded by "tree huggers" and "vine enthusiast" (Korra's wording), who protested against the reported deforestation of the Spirit Wilds.

When the demonstrators had not left in time for them to greet Korra's parents at the docks, they had decided to disguise themselves. They usually took the same measures as Korra all these years ago - a different hairstyle and clothes in another color were really all it took.

So Asami and Tara were now dressed in traditional blue Water Tribe clothes and were sporting wolf tails, while Korra wore one of Asami's red Fire Nation dresses and had her short hair in a bun. Once they had left Asami's property through the escape tunnel nobody in the entire city took any notice of them.

They arrived at the docks of Republic City as the Southern Water Tribe ship arrived. It was not long until Senna and Tonraq stepped off and froze when they saw how their daughter was dressed. "See", Tonraq said with a plain faces, "that's what happens when you marry an outsider." His wife just nudged his side and smiled at his joke, then they walked over to greet their only child's family with a single big hug.

"Gran gran! Grandpa", Tara cheered when she got an extra hug from her grandparents.

Suddenly all were reminded of how Korra's parents had met Tara for the first time. It was the same dock, possible even the same ship. Korra had awkwardly explained that these two were her parents, Senna and Tonraq, but her mother had picked the kid up and told her: "Don't listen to Korra, honey. We're your gran gran and grandpa." In hindsight that plan was a lot better and less confusing than the naming issue Korra and Asami still faced.

Tara struggled out of the grasp of the family and moved down the docks, laughing: "Grandpa! Water me if you can!" Tonraq grinned as he bended some of the port water into small balls and went after the child, trying to hit her.

The remaining persons watched them play for a bit, then Senna put her hands on the other two's shoulders and asked friendly: "Are you okay?"

The addressed women interchanged a look, then Korra spoke: "Actually no, we're not."

"Having a child changes so much", Senna tried to reassure them, squeezing their arms lightly.

"It's not just Tara. We might need to come clean with the public about our relationship. We are realizing a project for the city and it's really difficult working together. And now there are even protests against what we are doing with the vines. Oh, and Mako just told me he doesn't want to be our friend anymore", before she knew it all the frustration of the previous weeks had left Asami in a single string of words.

There was a silence where Senna watched the dissatisfied faces of the women, then she asked: "But you're not thinking about giving up?"

"No, never", both had spoken at the same time and after hearing the other one speak the words, they shared the first genuine happy smile in days. Both were incredible relieved to know that even though there were problems, neither of them thought about quitting.

"Thanks, mom", Korra stated and after turning to go after her father and daughter, took her girlfriends hand.

* * *

><p>"If you ask me, you should have told everyone years ago", Tonraq stated some hours later. While Tara already slept, exhausted from the time with her grandparents, the adults had moved to the living room for a talk heart to heart.<p>

"We couldn't", Asami stated matter-of-factly, "we would have ruined Future Industries if we had."

"But you could have kept your friend Mako", Senna added for consideration, which made the younger woman sigh.

"So what do you want to do now", it was Tonraq again, "I hope it's going to be a bit more obvious than Asami wearing a betrothal necklace.

"You could always have a big wedding", his wife suggest, but Korra shrugged it off.

"There's no way we would find someone to marry us. And I don't even WANT to have a big one. I'm sick and tired of the press people following me around all day." Luckily all of them knew of her struggle, so she did not need to explain it: She was content with the Avatar getting all the publicity, but she hated how they dragged Korra's personal life out in the open.

"In the end it will just be another press conference with awkward, personal questions", Asami stated already bugged by the media, "and then they'll hate us for no reason at all for some years and if we're really lucky we'll live to see the day that they'll treat us like normal human beings."

"I've never been treated like this", Korra said, trying to lift her girlfriend's spirits, "it's not so bad, you'll see."

"So now that sounds like a plan", the only man stated, smiling somewhat, "what is that I hear about you working together?" The other couple exchanged a nervous glance.

"Just talk about it", Senna pleaded and now went to pour them some of the Southern firewater they had brought as a gift, since this alcohol had a good reputation at loosening tongues.

"She's acting as if I can't do anything right", Korra stated tersely, and got an ugly look in return.

"Because you can't."

"I'm sorry I can never, ever satisfy your perfectionism", now the Avatar was snarling at her girlfriend.

Asami sighed frustrated, then said to her in-laws: "If I do something, I do it right. Korra's quite content with doing it half-heartedly and moving on."

"I have a whole world to save", Korra answered, "I can't wait for the third coat of paint to dry."

Asami had a frustrated expression on her face, because she could actually understand her girlfriend's point of view now that she knew it. Defeated she murmured: "But I think the Satomulator wouldn't have blown up if it weren't for your and Tara's presence. You're distracting me." Korra started to pout at that, then thought about it for a moment and stopped it again.

"Sorry", both of them said at the same time and then stared at each other, confused by what the other party had just apologized for. The married couple started to laugh at that behavior.

"I think you keep having problems because you two are so different", Senna said, smiling warmly. She looked at Asami. "You're used to keeping your emotions in check and are diplomatic…" She smiled at her daughter. "... but you are hotheaded and direct, even though you got better the last years."

"But that's not the problem", Tonraq explained, "you're cancelling each other out, that's a good thing. And you can live together since at home you agree on the basics: you built your relationship on a friendship, you value your family and your privacy. And you agree that Korra should never be left alone in the kitchen. " He was hinting at one of the Avatar's amazing talents: while she was able to firebend with military precision, she was unable to cook even the simplest meals. She had literally burnt soup once.

"But I assume you agree on nothing while working. Korra does her work like her Avatar duties - quick and dirty. Asami had to cope her whole life with being a girl in a man's world and does everything perfectly. I'd bet you even address your colleagues differently." He saw at the women's faces he was very right, since Korra had cut all formalism on the first day, while Asami wanted to make sure she was the boss.

"I don't know what being a girl in a man's world has to do with anything", Korra stated and crossed the arms in front of her chest - a clear reminder that she, too, was practically in the same situation.

"It's different for me", Asami answered, unknotting Korra's arms and taking one of her hands into hers, "if one of my engineers blows stuff up, he made a mistake. When I blow stuff up then that's the reason why women shouldn't be engineers." The Water Triber furrowed her brows at that. "If you blow stuff up, that's your darn right as the Avatar."

Korra opened her mouth to complain, but her girlfriend was quicker: "Just tell me: How many times have you arrested for destroying city property, and how many time have you actually been to jail?"

Korra closed her mouth again and pouted for a moment, until she murmured: "It's not my fault the darn city is so fragile."

Asami gave her a loving smile before she explained: "Try to walk in my shoes for a moment." Korra looked at her feet, clearly confused, but did not say a thing. "There's this really great project, which could revolutionize the world's power supply. I put together the greatest minds of the entire city to work on it. And then you show up, one and a half hour late. On your very first day." The Avatar looked like a child who was caught stealing cookies, which made Asami chuckle and kiss her temple. "And then you put Tara in the kindergarten, even though we agreed we couldn't have someone else watching her until our relationship was public."

The Avatar only nodded defeated and mumbled an apology that was not really necessary - Asami had a history of forgiving her anyways. Suddenly the CEO sat up straight and looked angry: "Oh, and you bended my car!"

The Avatar looked taken aback: "Did Tara tell you?"

"No, you did. Just now", the other woman said, now laughing, evidently she only wanted to tease her girlfriend.

"I don't think that this is going to fix everything, but maybe you should have ground rules at work, too", Senna questioned with a smile, while bringing the conversation back to topic, "if Korra's late, she should face the same consequences as every other employee."

Her daughter looked almost frightened at that prospect, shook her head and mouthed a no.

"But you should really try to talk to each other about how you feel", Tonraq added, then downed a bowl of the firewater and continued cheerily: "But I heard Asami wants to quit her job anyways to be a stay-at-home mom. And that we would get a lot more grandchildren."

The woman in question had now an annoyed facial expression, so Korra quickly explained: "It's not my fault you make me so happy I could tell the entire world!"

"You'll get to tell them soon enough", Asami said and leaned into her, "just now would be a very bad timing."

Remembering the stories of councilman Sokka Tonraq furrowed his brows, and with an icy tone of voice stated: "You're making it way to easy for the universe..."


	11. Dragged Out of The Closet

Senna was awoken by the bed moving. She opened her eyes and was about to say something mean to her husband when she saw a four year old Korra sitting in the middle of the bed. No, she reminded herself, that was Tara, Korra's daughter, who just looked and acted a lot like her foster mother. The first part was no surprise, Water Tribe children all looked somewhat similar, but nobody knew why. Some assumed there were circles somewhere in the tribe's family trees.

"Morning, honey", she mumbled, still half asleep. When she stretched, Tara flopped on her stomach to hug her, knocking the wind out of her.

"Are your parents already up", she questioned and started stroking the girl's back.

Tara nodded. "They sent me. They want to play Pai Sho before the training."

"Pai Sho", the echo came from Tonraq, who rolled over to look at his granddaughter in confusion, "I'd PAY to see Korra play Pai Sho."

Senna laughed at that and explained it to the girl: "You know, your grandpa always wanted to play Pai Sho with your mommy, but she never had the patience to sit through an entire game."

"That Asami girl is really good influence", Tonraq added and sat up in bed.

"Do you want to know a secret", Tara questioned, pushing herself up to kneel between the two adults. Both nodded and came closer. With barely a whisper, she said: "I think mom is letting mommy win."

"Asami is letting Korra win", Tonraq repeated, still getting the names confused, but Tara nodded.

"How do you know", Senna asked, propping herself up to lean against the headrest.

The child crawled over to sit between her grandparents: "Because mommy says she's winning. And then mom makes that face." She mimicked Asami's annoyed face surprisingly well. "So I think she's letting her win."

"Are they always playing this early", Tonraq asked while stretching, then slid over to cuddle with his wife and granddaughter.

Tara shook her head: "Naw, mommy says mornings are evil. They play when I have to go to bed."

"Well now THAT sounds a lot more like my Korra", he answered and chuckled, "really, Pai Sho…"

* * *

><p>For Korra having her parents over was a big success, since she had slept in her bed for the first time in forever. The second great thing was that Tara could be sent to wake her grandparents, giving her and Asami some more time to be together before they finally had to get up and start their day.<p>

When they stepped down the stairs of the grand entry hall they could hear the ruckus outdoors. Asami moved to the nearest window and looked outside: in front of the gates and fences stood demonstrators again. It was as if the people who were there the day before had multiplied by a tenfold. Now they seemed a lot angrier as well.

Korra pulled her away from the window, so that they would not be seen from the outside, and kissed her. "Don't worry", she told her, "today's our day off, and they are protesting against our WORK. We'll deal with them another day. Or let Gai take care of them."

Both let their lips meet again, but as the hands started roaming under their sleepwear, a cough startled them. "You two look better", Senna said with a smile, which made the women blush, "Korra, your dad and Tara are already outside waiting for you to start your training." The Avatar just groaned and slumped outside. That was probably the first time in her life she was disappointed she had to bend.

This time Tonraq led the waterbending exercises, and he was just about to comment on how adorable Tara looked when she splashed the water from her bucket, when the door to the mansion swung open almost violently and Senna appeared with a shocked facial expression.

"Korra", she shouted, and her daughter ran over to the house. When she entered the kitchen she saw Asami looking at the newspaper with a devastated expression. She seemed very close to tears. As Korra moved to her she saw the headlines: "LIAR, LIAR! Avatar misleads world about inappropriate relationship to Future Industries' CEO"

"Monkey feathers", Korra cursed; she had almost arrived at her girlfriend's side when she whirled around and threw the magazine at her head (and this time it even hit her).

"That's exactly what I told you would happen", she snarled at her, paying the paper falling to the ground no mind, "that's why I didn't want to bring Tara to Future Industries!"

Korra was unable to cope with situation. She put a hand on her girlfriend's shoulder, which got shrugged off very quickly as Asami moved through the neighboring rooms. Korra followed her, her first instinct to somehow be there for her.

"Asami, please, calm down", she reasoned, swallowing her anger, "we wanted to make it public anyways." Asami only huffed and sat down on the couch, putting her head into her hands. Her girlfriend moved to sit next to her, this time she was able to place a comforting hand on the other ones shoulder.

"I TOLD you the kindergartner was bad news", Asami said, "why would you let Tara stay with her!"

"Sorry", Korra stammered; she hated being the source of a problem.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence until Tonraq entered, furiously waving the open newspaper and slamming it down on the coffee table. "Who's this Cho guy", he questioned; his face told the story of how he wanted to make the man pay who hurt his daughter and her girlfriend.

"Cho", Korra questioned, not sure if she understood, "I don't think I know a Cho."

"I know", Tara exclaimed while happily climbing over the armrest of the couch just to be part of the moment, "Chief Cho's my friend!" She squeezed between her mothers and hugged Asami, since she seemed to need it the most. "I told him how much fun we have."

The CEO looked helplessly at her daughter, her wrath gone.

Korra turned to her father: "What does it say about him?"

"It seems he wanted to be the first one to tell the world how disgusting you are", Tonraq forced a laugh, but he was far from being happy, "he might be the one who ratted you out."

"Looks like it", Korra sadly agreed, kissing Tara's forehead.

There was a depressing silence, until Senna brought a tray with some plates with food and tea.

"Eat, you'll need your strength", she told them and filled cups with tea and put one in each pair of hands. When she sat down, she looked around with an optimistic smile: "So what are we going to do now?"

Korra und Asami looked at her with a blank expression, so it was her husband who spoke up: "I think we should split up."

* * *

><p>"Splitting up" meant that Korra's parents took their granddaughter out to spend some quality time away from angry protesters or overworked parents. They had asked the child to dress up in blue clothes again, and were quite certain the three Water Tribers would not stand out too much.<p>

Korra and Asami had thought long about what they should do. Since they did not come to any conclusion, they drove in disguise to the one place the Avatar always went to when she did not know what to do: Air Temple Island.

Tenzin greeted them at the docks with a hug and held both tight for a moment. "I read it", he told them with a sad voice, "how are you doing?"

"There are hundreds of people on our front yawn", Korra said on the verge of crying, "and they're protesting against US."

He led them to the main house, where all sat together in his living room. Pema consorted with them shortly after. The children, they learned, where somewhere travelling around the world and helping people.

"It's so unfair", Korra complained after minutes of silence, since no one else seemed to know what to say, "we didn't do anything!"

Tenzin nodded in agreement, but could do nothing about it. "I guess you will have to be patient once again", he told them sighing, "the world will need its time to come to terms with having such a special kind of Avatar."

"But why", Korra questioned and now she was getting enraged, "do you remember your parents relationship being dragged into the public like this?"

"Korra", he laid his hands on her shoulders trying to sooth her, "you're all about bringing balance to the world. Maybe it's time for you to tackle this issue for the good of all."

"But this time, it's personal", Korra objected, which made Pema smile.

"Wasn't it every time?"

Tenzin knew where she was going, and added: "She's right. You fought with someone who wanted to take YOUR bending, with YOUR own struggle with spirituality, with YOUR own problem of authority and finally with the demons from YOUR past."

The Avatar just sighed in frustration, and Asami used this moment to quietly state: "We don't have an option anyway." The old air temple master shook his head in disagreement. "I think you do", he said with a bitter tone of voice, "you could always deny the rumors, tell Katara to call you by your first name and somehow proof to the world that you are just roommates."

Korra crossed her arms in front of her chest, a clear statement on what she thought of that idea. Her girlfriend just laughed at it, as if it was some joke. To her it was: "I'm not doing this to Tara. She's been through to much already, she has every right to get a happy family for once!" The Avatar had just nodded with every word: "Yeah, I say we've been dragged out the closet, now we're not going back in."


	12. The Press Conference

The press conference was set to be at lunch time. The CEO had shuddered at how wrong everything was. The most important thing was of course: You should never give in to the media's urge to make your personal life public - but now they did. The lunch hour was a very bad time for holding press conferences - for obvious reasons. And finally invitations to an event like this were normally send out at least a week in advance - and not just mere hours. But she guessed when it came to the boss of Future Industries and the Avatar, the rented hall would be full anyways.

Tenzin had agreed to lead the conference, easing the minds by telling the press about Avatar Kyoshi. It even surprised Korra what she learnt about the earth Avatar and one of her female warriors. Evidently, Kyoshi's daughter Koko had been adopted as well, even though history was not clear if she was the biological child of her life partner Kyoko. The Air Nomad told the press that even though this lifestyle still was unusual, it was certainly nothing new.

The air in the crowded room was tense, there was no way knowing what the people were thinking.

That was the moment Korra went to the rostrum. She took a big breath and started a direct approach: "Let's be professionals for once. I'm speaking to you as the Avatar, not as Korra of the Water Tribes." A murmur went to the crowd. "There's no denying I'm in love with Miss Sato." She gesticulated in the general direction of her girlfriend. "But as long as it's not interfering with my Avatar duties, you just have to deal with it, since it's none of your business."

The voices in the crowd got louder and more aggressive. Korra showed them today's newspaper, then opened the page with the article. "Nonetheless, I take your concerns seriously. Is someone of the Elemental Times present?" Two or three people raised their hands, and Korra looked at them with hardly contained anger. "I'll give you a transcript after the conference, since research seems to be none of your strong suits." While Asami fought the urge to hit her forehead with her hand, some of the listeners actually chuckled at that.

Korra smoothed the newspaper on the desk. "So your main concern seems to be my personal presence all over the world since I've started dating Asami 'two years ago'." The Avatar raised her eyebrows at the reporters of the Elemental Times. "Where do you get the two years from? I checked, we have at least a dozen articles of your very own newspaper where you report that we moved in together three years ago. Did it not occur to you that we might have been a couple back then? So: no, I travel less and less because the world gets safer and safer, not because I want to stay home so badly. In fact, I'd rather travel than sit through the boring city meetings." Again, some of her listeners laughed at that.

"Another problem is that I might favor Future Industries over it's competitors." She had read the last part and had now a fake baffled expression on her face. "The constitution is actually pretty clear on that: I have no authority whatsoever to make contracts with any company in the name of the city." The next sentence was somewhat mumbled: "Since the people who wrote it know I am very bad with money." Louder, she added: "In fact, I have no real power in city meetings. I can deploy all my Avatar skills, but in the end I'm nothing more than a mere consultant."

"Next problem: I'm a bad role model because children could imitate my behavior." That sentence had costed her a bit of willpower, since it hurt that people thought like that. "I think we'll talk about that when children start bending four elements because they saw me do it."

"Last one." Korra addressed the reporters of the Elemental Times directly yet again. "You seem to think our relationship is illegal, don't you?" The poor reporters looked everywhere but at the Avatar. Probably this was Korra's way of ensuring the next reports about her person where going to be a bit closer to the truth. "Let me tell you: I couldn't give a elephant rat's butt about if it's legal or not, but Asami had it checked: There are no laws against what we're doing."

She took a deep breath and gave her listeners a moment to vent their anger. "I'm open for questions concerning my Avatar duties, but first Miss Sato is going to talk to you about Future Industries." The Avatar stepped away and let her girlfriend move to the speaker's desk.

"Good afternoon!" Asami greeted the crowd a lot more professional, and the manuscript she was holding displayed that she had held press conferences more than once - and this one was going to be perfect, like everything she did. "When I saw the newspaper today I was devastated. There are people out there who dropped all professionalism to throw dirt at something that is nobody's business." She, unlike the Avatar, did not talk to the reporters of the Elemental Times directly nor did she even look at them.

"I'd love to tell you we've made mistakes in how we handled our relationship, but the press coverage showed we had every right to keep quiet." She looked at nobody in particular while she took a deep breath. "Nonetheless, I will not allow for Future Industries and its many employees to suffer from actions of my family yet again. So today I am announcing my resignation from the position of chief executive officer. I will be succeeded by my second-in-command, Mister Tuaq."

From the moment she had used the word "resignation", the crowd had started whispering, and the people had not yet stopped. Asami bore it with fortitude. "I will always be connected with Future Industries, be it as the business owner or as engineer, but I will not be able to make decisions with or without the influence of the Avatar."

The sound level in the room had increased, forcing Asami to say nothing for a while. "My resignation will become effective immediately, but I will still be the chief engineer working on the city's vine problem. I hope that way my customers can invest in Future Industries without remorse, we can keep all our staff, and most importantly my family and I can live in peace."

She looked at the press and gave them an encouraging smile. "With that we are happy to answer any questions or expand on anything that you would like to further, as long as it's not about our personal life."

She took one of the microphones and went over next to Korra. Tenzin took the place on the rostrum, since his task was to be a moderator for any kind of inappropriate question.

The reporters in the room fell silent for a moment, then, one by one, the hands started to rise. Tenzin gave one of the friendlier looking reporters a nod.

"I've a question for Avatar Korra", the reporter said after standing up, "you said your relationship didn't interfere with your work. So for the sake of proving your argument, how long have you two been intimate?"

Korra looked at Asami to see how she stood on answering that question. Since she saw no objection, she said: "We've been dating for about seven years." The surprised whispers drowned out everything she might have said afterwards, but she found the need to expand on that: "Somewhere between opening the spirit portals and my sick leave of three years."

Astonishment made the reporters as a group forget what they wanted to ask. Even the most optimistic of them did not think this relationship had spanned for that long. So when after a long silence one of the reporters put his hand up, Tenzin had no choice but to give him the word.

"Xun of the Elemental Times. Both of you said something about professionalism. Do you call taking a toddler to an official city meeting 'professional'?"

"You can call that whatever you like", Asami answered, "but as far as I know Future Industries is the only company that has a place to care for children when their parents are working. So most parents face the decision of leaving their kids alone at home or taking them to their work. And I'd rather have Katara stay in a city meeting than next to a forge." While the reporters scribbled, Korra shot her girlfriend a grateful smile - she appreciated that Asami took a stance for something she had initially objected to.

The next reporter stood up. "Avatar Korra, are you concerned with your reputation in the world."

"No." Korra had answered quickly and would probably not have said anything more to the issue if Asami had not nudged her on. "I think as far as world leaders go, I've pretty good connections. The unofficial head of the Air Nomads Tenzin is present today to support us, the Northern Water Tribe's chiefs are my cousins, the Southern Water Tribe chief is my dad and I'm friends with the Fire Nation's royal family." She grinned toothily at the reporters. "But I AM afraid of Republic City's reputation if the press were to follow the Elemental Times' example."

"Miss Sato, did your relationship affect your work at Future Industries?"

Asami looked confused, but answered truthfully: "No, it didn't."

"So why do you feel the need to resign? Wouldn't that imply that Avatar Korra WAS affecting your work?" That made her actually laugh, because she registered that this was a very good question: "No, I..." She looked at Korra. "...actually we, considered resigning for weeks. Now seemed a good time for the sake of Future Industries."

"Could you clarify your family status", another reporter asked, "are you engaged, as Miss Sato's necklace implies? Is Katara daughter to both of you?"

After a silent conversation where Korra mouthed "took them long enough", Asami tackled the question, because the other woman seemed pretty aggressive today: "Yes, Katara sees both of us as her parents. Yes, this is a betrothal necklace." Asami pointed to her neck and took a moment before she continued: "But no, we are not engaged, since this would mean we could get married."

The murmur started again, until someone spoke without standing up: "So do you want to fight for your right to get married?" This question took the women by surprise. Of course they had decided long ago they would not fight for something like that - on the other hand they had thought they could keep their relationship secret as well. They registered they should really should have talked about this issue when Tenzin brought it up over at Air Temple Island.

"I think, time will tell", Tenzin butted in, interpreting his friends' facial expressions quite right, "I think it's now time for the last question."

He looked around and found a harmless looking man, which stood up and respectfully bowed before he questioned: "Avatar Korra, with you and Miss Sato being only childs, how do you cope with both of your bloodlines dying out because of your... relation?"

The surprise from the previous question never quite left, it was another thing neither of them had really paid any mind to. So Tenzin cut this question as well: "I think that's a private question and has nothing to do with the Avatar or Future Industries."

The reporter looked not convinced, but sat back down. Finally the airbending master thanked the crowd for their attendance and their professional behavior, then dismissed them. It was not long until the reporters left.

Asami and Korra sat on the platform, their feet dangling. Tenzin stood in front of them, watching the last of the crowd leave. "That went well", he commented, "they did not seem as hostile as I thought."

"Might just be the Elemental Times", Korra commented and Asami nudged her.

"You could have handled them a lot more professional."

"Yeah, but that's not my style", the Avatar quipped and kissed her girlfriend's cheek.

"That's kinda nice", she said smiling, "kissing you in public I mean."

Asami was about to comment on that newfound exhibitionism when Lin Beifong entered the room with big steps. A second after Senna and Tonraq appeared, both extremely shaken up.

"Korra, your daughter has been abducted."


	13. Proxy Punishment

"I hate to ask this", Lin Beifong told the devastated Avatar, "but do you know anyone who might mean harm to you?"

"You're kidding, right", Korra asked with a frightened expression, "the Elemental Times has just started a hate campaign against us. Yesterday we had a bunch of tree huggers in front of our house, today we had even more demonstrators who thought they should have a say in what happens in our bedroom."

The chief of police sighed, which gave Asami a moment to turn around to where her in-laws stood with a perplexed look and ask: "What did even happen?"

"We went to the park", Tonraq started, and proudly corrected "you know, the Avatar-Korra-Park, and we were playing. And we lost sight of her for maybe 5 seconds and she was gone. We searched everywhere."

Korra jumped to her feet. "The park it is", she said in a voice that allowed no backtalks, "I'm searching for her myself."

"No", Lin objected with a plain expression, "there are policemen everywhere doing the searching. We'll drive to your house in the case the kidnapper calls or sends a message." Before Korra could complain, the chief strutted to the exit, so the rest had no choice but to follow her.

"So what IS happening in the Avatar's bedroom that people are complaining", Lin asked with honest confusion while they were walking. Korra did not even hear her, because she was angrily stomping next to her, and Asami seemed miles away, so she looked over at the Avatar's parents.

They did not want to make a big deal out of it, so Senna just pointed at Asami's necklace, which made the metal bender frown. Evidently this woman did not spent her time following Water Tribe traditions. Or the news.

While walking, Tonraq made various gestures explaining the relationship, but evidently the chief of police knew none of them. He gave up when they arrived in front of the police Satomobile.

"Our car is over there", Korra explained and pointed down the road, while Asami had just continued walking. After Senna and Tonraq had entered Lin's vehicle, Korra's father used two simple words to explain the nature of his daughters relationship to Lin. Sadly, the second one (a verb) is not for children.

When they arrived at the Sato mansion, there was the next shock: the gates to the estate were torn down, police cars were standing everywhere. Some of the demonstrators had been arrested, some where still treated for wounds by ambulance personnel.

"What the flameo happened here", Lin shouted when she stepped out of her car. Senna and Tonraq left her car as well, while Asami and Korra exited their Satomobile parked behind them. All of them looked shocked.

They walked to the front door and found you-know-who talking to one of the policemen.

"Mako", Lin asked with a menacing tone of voice.

The man in question saluted and reported back: "There was a demonstration in front of the mansion that got out of hand. They stormed the house, but there is no sign of Korra, Asami or the kid around. We only found the butler, but he is unharmed." He saw the persons behind Lin only now and was surprised: "It's so good to see you all well! Where's Tara?"

The child's parents were on the verge of crying, so Lin explained it: "Katara's kidnapped from Avatar-Korra-Park." The firebender just cursed at that.

"Check the house for any messages of the kidnapper", the chief of police told the younger detective, who nodded and went to brief his men. Then Lin turned to the family of the house: "Don't touch anything, but try find something that seems off." They fanned out.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Asami", Korra stated after the two of them had searched their bedroom and Tara's room for clues, "can I have the car? I want to check the park myself."<p>

"Beifong said...", Asami answered, but got interrupted.

"I can't sit idle when someone has our child. I have to search for her myself!" The former CEO sighed frustrated, then shook her head.

"There's nothing you can do", she told her, "it's not like Naga was still alive and could pick up her scent."

"But", Korra started, but her girlfriend just squeezed her hand to get her to stop.

Of course they found nothing in the house that was out of the ordinary - at least for a building that was overrun by an angry mob. The problem was: They did not know if there was a connection between the kidnapping and the storming of the mansion, or if it was purely coinsidently. And if the demonstrators had entered the house by choice, there was a good chance they accidentally destroyed messages left by the kidnapper.

The entire day was spent searching the house, talking about possible foes (there was a surprisingly big amount of people that meant either the Avatar or the CEO of Future Industries harm) and receiving a single message over and over again: "We did not find anything."

When Lin left late at night and told them to catch some sleep it sounded like sarcasm, but each of the two couples residing in the Sato mansion did as they were told.

* * *

><p>"Korra, where are you going", Asami questioned later that night. The Avatar had just put on a parka and her boots and was about to leave the building when her girlfriend had stopped her. Now she whirled around and had a guilty expression on her face, which subdued when she saw that Asami was wearing what she had dubbed "mission clothes" - the pants and racing jacket she wore while fighting with Team Avatar.<p>

"I can't sleep like this. I'm going out searching for Tara", she answered.

The other woman dangled her car keys in front of her face and opened the front door: "I'm coming with you."

The two of them went to the car in silence and drove through the still broken main gate of the estate. They had nothing to talk about. Both of them felt just so empty, not even sad or angry, but as if a big part of them had been removed.

The first stop was the Avatar-Korra-Park. Korra had hated the name of the park for years, now she had every reason to hate the green itself. The search parties had left the area, as had all other persons.

Korra and Asami travelled through the park with a bended flame and a flashlight until they found the place where Tara had gone missing. At least they assumed it was the spot, since they only knew what Tonraq and Senna had told them. They searched the vicinity for a good hour.

"Nothing", both of them said at the same time and stood in silence for a moment, until Korra suddenly stomped off.

"Where are we going", Asami shouted behind her while following closely.

Korra had a crooked, almost evil grin when she looked back at her: "I think we're visiting the Triple Threat Triad."

Normally there would be a hundred questions on Asami's mind and the same amount of buts, but this time her clouded brain did not come up with even one of these, so she quietly followed her girlfriend to the car.

Since Republic City was already asleep, they made way fast, even though Korra could not remember where exactly the headquarter was and they had to drive in circles for some time.

The Satomobile had not even stopped completely when Korra jumped out. Asami followed suit, but took the time to get her electric glove out of the trunk. When she slammed the trunk shut she heard Korra kicking the door of the triad building in. She ran to take part in the fight, but when she entered the room it was already over.

The broken door was flung at the opposing wall and buried two thugs. Another two were lying on the ground, from the stone pillars next to them, their faltered bodies and their groans Asami could only assume Korra had attacked their groins in a move she had dubbed "the nutcracker". One man next to the bar had been evidently struck by his own glass of beer and there were various men smacked against the wall by gusts of air.

At least it was easy to find out where Korra had gone to - she had kicked the other door in, too. Asami followed, and saw many more broken doors and men on her way. When she found the stairs to the next floor, Korra suddenly turned the corner and came towards her, jogging down the steps.

"Wrong triad", she explained and took Asami's wrist to pull her towards the car. They drove in silence until they found the address the Avatar had beaten out of some poor sap, and then history repeated itself - she jumped out of the car while it still moved and went to fight the entire triad on her own.

When Asami entered the debended metal door to the cellar where the Agni Kai resided and saw the many injured men, she had a surprising thought: Whenever Korra told her she had defeated an army or some rebels or something like that, she had thought she used the same "I" as she when she said "I made this Satomobile make" - an I consisting of a bunch of other people under her command. Now she thought it quite possible Korra had actually defeated entire armies on her own. She had come a long way from not being able to even dress herself six or so years ago.

Asami stood there in the door and took a moment to collect herself. As she saw a man move while groaning, she went over there and shocked him with her glove. Somehow that gave her a sense of purpose for a moment.

After some minutes Korra came back with her right hand behind her. "Wrong triad again", Asami questioned, but Korra showed her what she was holding - it was the collar of some random thug.

"No, right triad, I found a guide", she said and dragged the man to the door, where she used the door handle and some metal bending to create makeshift cuffs for him. Then she flung him into the back of the car and called impatiently: "Asami? Let's go!"

The former CEO walked out of the building with a plain face. For a moment, she seemed to consider if this really was the best of ideas, but in the end, maternal instincts won and she climbed behind the steering wheel and drove of.

A whimper behind them reminded them that they were not alone. "Please, Avatar, the cuffs are way to tight", the man pleaded and held his hands between the two front seats.

Korra gave him an icy glance, but in the end, she widened the metal, because his hands had already started to turn blue. "You might want to stay on my good side, though", she told him while shoving him back to the rear bench seat, "because the only other metal benders in town are police."

"But", he complained, "I didn't do anything to your daughter!"

"Seems fair to me - because my daughter didn't do anything to the Agni Kai."


	14. Remorse

"What's wrong with the kid?"

The next morning had just broken, and the two prison guards were awoken when their little prisoner started exercising in the small shack in the forest outside the city.

Iwao, a bulky man who could as well be a earthbender, but was not, had spoken, and now he crossed his arms in front of his wide chest and growled at the child. His thinner comrade, Yuu, watched Tara as if he expected to be overpowered by the four year old.

"Wait", Yuu told Iawo, who would not have moved anyways, and picked up some of the tabloids from the small table. Of course he knew there was not one word of truth in these magazines, but they had to make sure they had the right child, and the many, many paparazzi photographs in them helped them tremendously.

He showed the centerfold - it was a series of images showing the Avatar's morning exercise, photographed through the bushes surrounding the Sato estate. Kindly they were labeled with "fire", "water", "earth", "air" and "meditation".

"I think she is firebending", Yuu said while comparing Tara's movements to the pictures.

Iwao took a step back: "You think she CAN bend fire?" The thinner man looked at the images again. There was no sign of the child bending anything.

"I don't think so", he told his friend, "but she can bend one element at max."

I'm Avatar Junior", Tara told them sternly with her hands in her hips, then she went to train the poses for the next element.

Iwao was fearful: "Maybe we should tie her."

This kind of stupidity made Yuu smack him: "Don't listen to her! She's not even blood-related to the Avatar. And even if she was - there's only one person who can bend four elements: the Avatar. And last I checked she was still alive."

"And angry", Tara chimed in, probably not entirely helpfully.

"She should be angry with herself", Iwao told the child, "if she just paid the ransom you would be home a long time ago." Tara just pouted at that, because she did not believe her mothers would just leave her with her captors for no reason. Clearly something had hold them up. Maybe the bank was just out of money.

* * *

><p>Unbeknownst to them, a storm was brewing, unfortunately for them not on the horizon, but only a short walk away. A Satomobile skidded to a halt on the muddy ground. Two women stepped out, but this time Asami was quicker to run forward, since she saw something waving in one of the bushes.<p>

She picked the blue hair band up and showed it to Korra - it was one of hers. Since her short hair did not allow for wolf tails anymore, these were the ones they used to tame Tara's hair. There was no chance for a mistakes, since the Water Tribes were still critically underrepresented in Republic City - another Water triber losing their band in a place like that was extremely unlikely.

Before she could run off, Asami stepped in front of Korra and held both her hands. "I'm calling the police", she told her, "you'll stay here. I don't want you doing something you'll regret later."

Korra stared at her for a moment, mulling her plead over. "No, I'll get her out myself", she answered slowly, "I'll regret it a lot more if something happened to her while we waited for the police."

Asami nodded as she leaned into the car to use the police radio, which she thanked the spirits she had not replaced with a music radio as her girlfriend had asked her to. While she was talking and Korra was staring off down the footpath, the thug they had captured fled. He fell about 300 feet from the Satomobile, and since we was still cuffed, his face hit the ground, but he jumped to his feet and then he was gone.

"They'll be over soon", Asami said and stepped over to Korra, a bit surprised she was still there. But she did not make it to her side, because finally the Avatar started walking, her hands igniting after the first three steps. Asami followed.

And then they heard it. It was still distant, but they knew their daughter. She shouted for someone. Both started to run immediately. And while Korra's mind went blank, Asami registered the child's words did not sound like she was afraid or pleading for her life.

After some minutes they finally saw her. The child was running towards them on the small footpath, every now and then looking back to the small hut with the open door she had just fled from.

"Mom", she screamed in glee, "Mommy!" She tried running faster, but her little legs where not made for such a task, so she stumbled and fell. Her parents were next to her in a heartbeat and hugged her tightly.

"Where is that little rat", Iawo stepped out of the hut, his clothes drained with water, his hands were burning. His comrade Yuu followed him with an angry look on his face - he was wet as well and the flames in his hands were even bigger.

Asami could actually hear how something snapped in her girlfriend's brain. There they were - two grown men, who would no doubt be able to lift an entire polar bear dog without problems - and they were going with fire after a four year old. And not just any four year old, but their little girl.

"Korra, no", the older woman screamed as the Avatar dashed towards them, her hands blazing with the fire of a thousand suns up until her elbows. When she realized that these men had no chance whatsoever, she quickly picked the child up, pressing Tara's face into her shoulder so she would not have to see what was about to happen. Then she ran back to the car.

But it was not necessary to see what was happening - she could hear the men scream even though Tara was sobbing into her ear. After that she heard a sickening crunch, no doubt human bones giving in to a super-human force. And then, worst of all, there was silence.

She swallowed hard and fought the urge to turn around, because she really did not want to see what had happened. So when they finally arrived at the car, she opened the trunk and sat on its edge, her gaze towards the city and away from the shack.

Tara's crying had subdued by now, but her fierce grip on her mother's neck had not. "Are you okay", Asami questioned, wiping the tears from the little face with a handkerchief. The child rubbed her left eye with one of her hands and nodded.

"Did they hurt you", the woman asked, and after a moment of hesitation, "did… did they touch you?"

Tara looked at her with her innocent green eyes, not understanding the underlying question. It was a good sign. "No", she said aloud, "but they wouldn't read me a story before bed."

Asami could not help but laugh at that. "How cruel", she commented, hugging her daughter tightly, but the girl did not agree.

"They probably couldn't read as well as you anyways."

"If they could read at all", the mother concurred.

There was a moment were both just cuddled without saying a word.

"Mom", Tara pushed herself away to look up, "did Korra hurt them?" Asami looked away at the question. She realized why her daughter had refrained from using the term "mommy" this time - the kid instinctively distanced herself from the actions of the Avatar.

"Yes", she finally answered, her voice barely audible. Tara frowned at that.

"Are they dead", she asked with a clearly sympathetic look, "like my real parents?"

Asami choked. Try as she might she was not able to forget the sound of their bones crushing. She stared off into the distance for some moments, then shook her head. But she never came around to answering, since they suddenly heard police sirens.

The first two cars stopped right in front of them, the policemen inside hurried down the path without even glancing at them. When Asami looked after them, she saw Korra walking towards her. She stared at nothing in particular, but at least she was not covered in blood like Asami had feared.

For some moments she hoped the Avatar would make a joke, maybe something like "You won't need cuffs for these guys anymore!" She would take anything at this point; anything that showed she was still in light spirits. But the truth was she could only see remorse on her girlfriend's face, and that frightened her.

While musing she had not seen the police woman walking to her site. "Are you alright", Lin questioned and made Asami jump in shock. Then she looked down at her daughter and back at the chief and nodded.

"What exactly are you doing here when I ordered you to stay home", while the first question showed concern, this one was typically Beifong.

"We were following… our maternal instinct", Asami questioned, not willing to rat her girlfriend out.

"We found a thug down the road who had a door handle bent around his wrists, he told us a different story", Lin stated with an annoyed tone of voice, which made the other woman quite down.

"Can we go now", Korra's voice sent shivers down Asami's spine, since it was cold and distant.

"Yeah, you look like a corpse, kid", the chief of police told the Avatar, and in her defence, she was right, "but you have to come over to the police station later to give your testimony."

Asami nodded, since her girlfriend did not react in any way, then she put the child into the backseat of the car. She was now already next to Korra, so she laid a hand on her shoulders: "Are you okay?"

Korra shrugged her off and then clearly lied: "Sure, I'm fine."


	15. Legal Trouble

The drive back home was long and tense. Korra's icy manners made Asami uncomfortable. Thankfully Tara showed no sign of abuse and chattered on the back seat.

"Mom? Can we go out for breakfast?" - "Oh look, an ice cream stand!" - "Can you read me two stories today?" - "Where's the police car going?" - "Mom, there's the broken Satomulator!" - "Can we go to the Spirit Wilds?" - "I see Air Temple Island!" - "Why is the sky so blue?" - "Are we there yet?" And so on and so forth.

Asami really tried her best to answer each and every question, but her nerves got weaker by the minute, since she had not slept for 24 hours (and the night before, thanks to Korra's parents, she had slept a lot less than usual).

So when she entered her mansion with the child on her arm, she was very happy to see Tonraq and Senna rushing over from the dining room. "Tara", they screamed with glee, "you're back!" And they went to cuddle the girl, who let herself fall into the arms of her grandparents, trusting them to hold her.

"Where have you been", Tonraq questioned, stroking Tara's back, "and where's Korra?"

Asami turned around, since she had been quite certain the Avatar was behind her. Her mind was already playing tricks on her: "We searched the entire night and found her near a shack in the woods. Korra's… well, she snapped when she saw that the kidnappers wanted to hurt Tara."

"They didn't read me a story", Tara told them, believing it to be significant because her mom had told her it was cruel, "so mommy made them dead." Her grandparents looked at her devastated, then over to Asami, who shrugged sadly.

"Is she outside? I'm going to talk to her", Tonraq explained while giving the child to his wife, then walked outside the house.

Senna had a troubled expression. "Do you want to have something to eat", she asked, but Asami shook her head.

"I'd rather just sleep for some hours."

"So what are you waiting for", the older woman asked, "I promise we'll not let Tara out of our sight!"

Asami had already turned to walk up the stairs, when she looked back. "Senna… it's not your fault", she explained, but Korra's mother just nodded unconvinced. Sadly Asami did not have the nerves for this issue, so she jogged up to the bedroom, slumped into bed, and immediately fell asleep.

* * *

><p>"Korra? Are you okay", it was a stupid question, Tonraq realized when he saw his daughter. The bags under her eyes were due to her lack of sleep, but the coldness in them was something he had not seen for six years.<p>

That was when Korra had been in a wheelchair, unable to dress or cook for herself. She had shut down back then, distancing herself from the world, and she was probably doing that now, too. He just had to bring her back.

Korra still leaned against the Satomobile and looked into the garden when her father moved to her side.

"I know how you feel", he told her, but got just a bitter chuckle in reply, "no really. Don't you remember? You've been abducted from our home when you were about Tara's age." His daughter looked at him without emotion, waiting for his next words. "And I have to tell you, if they had listened to me, these monsters wouldn't have seen the next day. But Sokka, Zuko and your dear Tenzin told me that revenge is like a two-headed rat snake or something and that I should forgive them." He pushed himself from the car looking at his daughter. "Can you believe it? Forgive them!?"

A smile crept on the Avatar's face, but did not stay for long. "How are you still so angry", she asked him, her face now plain again, "it's been 20 years."

Because your my daughter", he told her with a warm smile, "I can guarantee you I'll hate everyone who hurts you till the day I die." Korra looked at him sceptically. "You know, except for Mako", Tonraq added after he had mulled that thought over, "because that was partially your fault for pushing yourself on the poor boy. He's a good kid."

His daughter snickered at this and punched him lightly. "When are you going to let that one slide", she asked in mock frustration, "it's been seven years since I dated him."

Tonraq crossed his arms in front of his chest: "I spent three years trying to come to terms with the fact you liked girls and then one day you arrived at the South Pole with your boyfriend: I think I have every right to tease you with that for as long as my old brain still remembers."

"Daaad", Korra complained, but Tonraq would not hear any of this - with a swift move he grabbed his daughter and put her in a headlock, ruffling her hair like she was still a child.

"Now princess", he told her with a stern voice, "now you'll make your best happy face for your family, take your wife to the bedroom and sleep for some hours."

He released her and Korra saluted with a short: "Yes, sir." She took four steps, then slumped, turned around and looked at him with the same despair he had seen earlier.

"Dad", she questioned, "do you think I'm degenerating?" Her father clearly did not understand the question, so she had to reword it. "I thought I was over this. You know, attacking people to get my way."

Tonraq smiled at her weakly: "You didn't do it to get your way, you did it for your kid. I don't know if you want to get over that."

Korra took a moment to take the words in, then she turned again and did as he had ordered her.

* * *

><p>Tara's parents came into the living room shortly after lunch, which Senna quickly reheated for them. While Asami was rested and looked like nothing had happened (possibly helped by a new coat of makeup), Korra still looked badly. She explained she was not able to sleep and had meditated instead, which was not as restful as real sleep.<p>

They ate and drove with Tara to the police station, where some policemen took the time to interview them. Korra's testimony was the shortest - due to her physical shape and because she did not want to incriminate herself, she used her right to refuse to give evidence.

The interrogation of Tara started problematic. Asami did not know why, but the police officer in question did not talk to either of them, but paced in front of the door. When Tara struggled free from her lap to run around as well, the door opened and Beifong peeked in with an angry glance.

"What", she spat and the policeman pointed towards Asami with his thumb. "What", Lin repeated, not grasping the problem.

"We can't talk to a child without a parent present", the man stated with an uneasy expression, "but she's not the child's parent."

Sadly, this was true, since the adoption papers only allowed for one mother and one father, and after Korra's impromptu-adoption the "mother"-field was already filled.

"So? Get the Avatar to sit in on this", Lin answered and was about to close the door when the man interrupted.

"The Avatar is in the room next to us. And she won't talk to us."

The chief looked and him with an angry expression, then to Asami. "So the kid finally got smart", she questioned the other woman, and then mumbled to herself, "not so smart as to stay out of trouble, but still..."

"How do we handle stepparents", Lin questioned the policemen, and he shrugged.

"We usually allow them, if the other parent and the children agree. But they're not married either. They're not even engaged."

Lin groaned and shot Asami a look that seemed to say "get your life together", then made a dismissive gesture: "Just to get either of them to sign off on something that states we are allowed to question these two together." She was gone before the policeman could complain.

After that it went comparatively faster. Someone was sent to get the autograph of Korra, and then the questioning started.

Tara was first, since they figured they could send her out afterwards. With the help of some child friendly questions she told how the kidnappers had helped her play hide and seek with their grandparents. They had put her into their car and driven to put a letter in the mailbox of the Sato estate. Tara remembered the many angry persons in front of her home, but evidently, when she had been there, the mansion had not been stormed yet.

That at least explained why they could not find the abductor's letter - the mailbox was one of the first casualties once the demonstration got out of hand. It had been converted to a barbeque when they arrived.

Then Tara had been brought to the shack. The kidnappers were nice to her, telling her they waited for a call from her mother and playing with her. They even shared their food with her once they learned she did not like the Water Tribe meal they had bought her.

Again Tara complained how gruel it was that nobody read her a story. But she felt safe enough to sleep in the same hut as her kidnappers.

"So the next morning, did they wake you", the policemen asked friendly, but Tara shook her head.

"No, I woke up first."

"That's when you fled?"

"No, because I had to exercise first", she told him sternly.

He looked confused: "Exercise?"

Tara jumped from her mother's lap and made one bending pose for each element while she told him: "Fire, water, air, earth." Then she flopped to the ground and crossed her legs. "Meditation." She stood up again and climbed onto Asami, who was proudly smiling.

"Okay, so you woke up and exercised", the man repeated, scribbling it on a paper, "did you flee then?"

"Yes", the kid nodded vigorously, "I splashed them and they slipped and then I ran."

The police officer wrote it down, then asked with a smile: "Did you push them? Or did they slip by accident?"

The child had a guilty expression, so he scribbled again even before she answered: "I pushed them."

"It's okay, sweetie", Asami told her cuddling her, "they were bad men, you had every right."

Tara was not convinced, so the man told her: "She's right, if someone touches you or keeps you someplace you don't want to be, you are allowed do everything to get back to your parents."

There was a small pause where the child thought about it, but then he continued the interrogation: "So then after they slipped, what did you do?"

"I ran outside. And then I saw mommy and mom." The police officer looked confused, but wrote it down.

"So what did happen after your parents found you."

"Mom took me to the car, and mommy fought the guys", Tara told him, confusing him so much he stopped writing.

"Miss Sato took you to the car?"

"Sami, yes", Tara agreed. Maybe it was not so bad after all that she knew her parents' first names.

"And Avatar Korra...?"

"And Korra made them dead", she explained, which made Asami sit up straight and clarify.

"She did not see that!"

Her daughter looked at her with honest confusion: "But you said..."

"I didn't see it either", came the quick reassurement.

The police officer's friendly face fell and he looked sceptically at Asami: "So what DID you see?"

"Nothing", the answer was a bit too quick to be really convincing, "I picked Tara up and brought her to the car." She kept silent for some moments, then sighed and continued defeated: "I didn't want to see what she did."

"Did you see what she did to the triad members in the city", the question was expected, but not welcomed.

"No", Asami answered simply, "when I entered the buildings the fight was over. For all I know they could have lain there for hours when we arrived."

The scribbling of the police officer got quicker for a moment, then he asked: "So you admit to being at the triads' headquarters?"

Asami gulped, then looked away; she had said too much already. "Could I talk to Korra for a moment", she questioned, and after he shook his head, "then I won't say anything anymore."

They looked at each other for some seconds while Tara's head turned back and forth as if she was watching a Kuai ball match. Finally he gave her the papers to sign for Tara's and her statement, stood up and led her to the door.

When they arrived at the Avatar, who was slumped groggily on one of the benches in the hall, the woman had just nodded off. Seeing her scrunched face made Asami worry for a bit, but she did not have that much time.

Now Tara, like most children, had the superpower to not be able to hear when someone right next to her told her to clean up her room, but still be able to repeat curse words that were whispered in another part of the house. Not only was she able to repeat them, she hold some of them dear for days or weeks on end, until she found the most inappropriate time possible to tell them to a waiter, a colleague or even a superior of Korra.

Something like that happened now, too. Tara pulled harshly on her sleeping mother's arm, and when she would not stand up immediately, told her: "You look like a corpse, mommy!"


	16. Family Time

"It's weird", Asami told nobody in particular when she entered the kitchen after reading to Tara that evening. Only Senna was present, and she was doing the dishes and cleaning. The younger woman raised a brow at that behavior: "You know we have a butler?"

Senna only smiled: "Yes, but I need to keep myself busy." She looked towards the window: "I think it's a family thing, Korra and Tonraq are sparring."

"Korra's what", Asami asked baffled and walked next to the window. Indeed, her girlfriend and her dad were fighting each other in the twilight, the older man using water and the younger woman using only her bare hands (since she was too powerful even with only one element, she guessed).

"She said else she wouldn't be able to sleep", Senna explained and went back to the dishes, "now what's weird?"

Asami looked at her confused before she remembered: "Tara. She's weird." Korra's mother gave her a puzzled glance. "Ever since we got her she has been clinging to Korra", the younger woman explained, turning her back to the window and leaning against the counter, "but today she wouldn't leave my side."

"That's not weird", Senna said and laughed, "that's the way parents work - each of you have an area of life you're most needed at." The former CEO did not understand, so she grabbed a cloth and a dish and started drying it, knowing that the woman would continue on her own.

"The very same happened with Korra", her mother told her and watched her family through the window, "when she was a kid, she'd always cling to Tonraq. And I couldn't blame her, either. He's really good with kids, always playing and making silly faces and everything. And I couldn't even teach her anything - she didn't like cooking and sewing and cleaning and all the other women's chores."

"What about bending", Asami questioned, while she polished the same plate for minutes at a time.

Senna smiled warmly: "It took Korra a month from learning she was a waterbender to being better at it than I am." The younger woman did not know if she should laugh at this or try to comfort the other party. "But however close she is to her father, there are a special kind of problems she always talked to me about first."

"Female problems", Asami guessed, but got an amused smirk.

"No, she'd always only talk to Tonraq about that. And he'd freak out and ask me what to tell her and - I think - he told her a lot of nonsense." The Avatar's girlfriend blinked at that; it actually explained a lot.

"I was really relieved when she told us she was into girls, because I already saw her getting pregnant the minute she stepped out of the compound", Senna finished, but then remembered the real topic: "She only talked to me about her feelings. I think she always wanted to be strong like her dad, and would have felt weak if she had to talk to him about them."

"So I got to be there for her for her first heartbreak, the second, the third…" Asami looked irked, so Senna stopped. "You know, all the unrequited crushes she had. And then with Mako, and you, and that other girl…"

"Other girl", the younger woman shrieked, and Senna had to think long about it.

"Wasn't there another girl? Korra really talked a lot about her. What was her name? Lee? Jin?"

"Lin!"

Senna's eyes widened when she remembered: "Yes! That's her."

Realization suddenly struck the Water Triber. "She meant Lin Beifong", she questioned shocked, "the way she talked about her I was sure it was just another girl who had it in for her."

Asami nodded and only chuckled to herself, because for a second there, she was actually jealous of the other woman. Senna had put the last clean dish away and was now cleaning the counter. "What I'm saying is: You two are different, and Tara will come to each of you for different things. Korra's a great pal and fun to play with, but I'd assume you're going to be the emotional backbone of the family."

Senna washed and dried her hands and put them on the younger woman's shoulder: "Don't worry, you're great mom, even if Tara wants to spent a lot of time with Korra." Asami smiled widely, but the moment was soon disturbed by two brusque Water Tribers entering the house. Both looked scuffed and tired and stopped abruptly when they saw the women.

"Are we interrupting something", Tonraq questioned with a confused expression. His wife gave him a warm smile when she shook her head.

Korra stretched next to them and then yawned. After kissing her girlfriend on the cheek she stated: "I'll clean up and get to bed, I'm exhausted." Then she bid her parents a good night and shuffled up the stairs.

"You think she's okay", Asami questioned, which made the other two glance at each other.

"Something feels wrong", Senna stated, and Tonraq nodded.

"It's probably just her nerves, though. She couldn't bend out there, either." He suddenly looked like he remembered something. "Uh, Asami? You should probably take a look at her leg. She got hurt, but since she couldn't heal it…"

The youngest of the group had worry written all over her face. On an impulse she went to hug Korra's parents tightly, who after a surprised moment reciprocated it. "I have to tell you, it's so great to have you here", she started, somewhat off topic, "you've been a tremendous help." Senna just patted her back as response. "How long will you be able to stay?"

"Don't worry", Tonraq told her, "the South Pole won't collapse if we leave it on its own for some weeks."

Senna nodded: "And if Korra gets worse at least I can stay with you to help you out."

"Thanks", was all Asami could utter as she stepped back from the couple and rubbed the corner of the eye, because a stray tear had settled there.

"And before we go I really have to play Pai Sho against Korra", Tonraq stated.

Asami had very baffled facial expression when she answered: "Are you sure? Korra hates it, and she is really not very good. I tried to force her into a game once, and she 'accidentally' burned the board halfway through."

Tonraq's brows furrowed and he looked into the direction where Tara's room was, trying to find out where he had misunderstood something. "But WE could play, if you'd like", Asami added with a hopeful smile, "but now we only have a small travel board I usually use to play against my dad."

Now Korra's father was looking at his wife for guidance, but even though she seemed in the process of figuring the problem out, she did not help him. "Tara told us you were playing Pai Sho a lot", the words had not even left his mouth when Asami's face had turned to look like a tomato.

Incidentally that made the older Water Tribers understand what had happened. Both started to laugh, Senna hiding her mouth behind her left hand and Tonraq loudly and while holding his belly.

After she had calmed, Korra's mother laid an reassuring hand on the younger woman's arm and smiled, trying to cure her from her embarrassment (which had only increased after she had been laughed at).

"Normally, new parents are briefed in the delivery room", Tonraq told her still laughing, "so you wouldn't know: the United Alliance of Parents choose 'yoga' as the word parents use when they want to hide THAT from their children."

Slowly the color was draining from Asami's face as she repeated: "Yoga?"

"Yes, yoga", Tonraq confirmed, "because when your children storm your bedroom - and believe me they will - and find you, you will have a very hard time explaining why you're playing Pai Sho in bed. Naked. Without a board."

* * *

><p>That night Korra shot violently up in bed and looked afraid around. Her nightmares had returned, only with a sinister twist - she had still dreamed of Amon, Unalaq and Zaheer, but this time they had attacked Asami and Tara, while she had been shackled and poisoned and was forced to watch.<p>

She put her hands over her face and tried hard not to cry. When she had calmed herself, she decided to snuggle up against Asami, but found it utterly impossible, since Tara was already sleeping in the Avatar's spot.

With a groan she climbed over Asami to lie next to her other side. Now she had to push them for a bit, so that she had enough space, which made the other girls stir in their sleeps. Finally she got comfortable, but sleep would not come to her for a long time this night.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Asami was up quite early. She sat in the living room with a steaming cup and wrote something on a sheet of paper; it contained the current problems and what to do to fix them.<p>

"Why did you go", a whiny voice questioned from the door. She looked up to saw her girlfriend with her large pyjama pants and tank top rubbing her tired eyes.

After some pitter-patter, Tara appeared next to her in an oversized T-shirt and added: "We want to cuddle."

"Can't you cuddle with each other", Asami questioned, an amused smile present since she first saw the two of them. They looked at each other, and for a moment they were not like mother and daughter, but like siblings, when they shook their head insistently.

"You're the best cuddler", Korra stated, while Tara was already on her way to the couch Asami was sitting on. The Avatar could not have any of this - with two big steps and a jump she moved past the kid and landed on the couch next to her girlfriend, her head laying on one of her legs.

Tara stuck her tongue out for this childish behavior and climbed on Asami's other site, hugging her tightly. Both sighed in contentment and stayed that way while the only adult present wrote.

"What are you doing", Korra questioned, not being able to read the paper from her current position.

The other woman answered slowly: "With everything going on, I thought I'd make a list of things we have to do, we can do or we better let other people handle."

"Uh…", was the only response Korra gave.

"Let's see, for example, the vine situation", Asami stood up, making her family flop to the couch - the Avatar on the bottom and the child somehow managing to land on her face. The oldest of the three went to the window and looked outside: "I see two policemen and still three, no four vine demonstrators. So we still need to tell the press that…"

Two bodies hitting the ground made her spin around. Korra and Tara were now lying on the floor.

"Why did you stand up", Korra lamented with mock frustration, "the agony! The pain!"

Tara giggled and moved around in a way she thought a hurt person would. "Mom! I'm dying", she stated and after a moment she laid limply on the floor: "Now I'm dead."

"I bet I only need one sentence to get you back to life", Asami stated with a smirk.

She could faintly hear Korra whispering: "She'll offer food! Don't give in to the food."

"The floor is lava."

With a shriek both of them jumped up and climbed onto the couch, heavily panting. First they stared uneasily at the ground, then over to Asami, who laughed heartily. "No fair", Korra complained, but Asami blew her a kiss and winked.

"I'll go make you some breakfast", she told them when she left the room, shouting over her back: "Remember, no lava bending in the house!"

As she arrived in the kitchen, she was greeted by Senna's confused expression. Evidently she had heard the last shout. "You surely meant: No lava bending. Period", she corrected.

But Asami just shrugged when she started helping her to get breakfast ready: "You'll find yourself making weird compromises when you're living with the Avatar."


	17. Healing

When Korra and Tara entered the dining room, they were evidently still playing. They threw a sofa cushion in front of them, then jumped on it, then picked up the one they had previously been standing on, threw it, jumped again….

"The floor is lava", Tara told her grandmother when she entered the room to look for the source of the trampling. After the next jump Korra groaned in pain and kneeled down. "Did the lava get you", Tara questioned, and her mother forced a lopsided grin.

"Yeah, I guess it did."

When she rolled up her pyjama pants, there was the long wound from the sparring match against her dad, which had opened and blood was trickling out. It was nothing major, but it still frightened the child, who shouted: "Mom!"

Asami poked her head in the room only moments after, and was about to play down the issue when she saw Korra's struggle to bend the water Senna had brought her to heal herself.

"Still no bending", she asked while stepping into the room. Her girlfriend's confused face told her the answer, so she ordered Senna: "Would you mind looking after the food? I'll go get some bandages." And then, both of them were gone.

"Mommy", Tara asked while they were sitting on the cushion and waiting, "can you bend lava?"

Korra grinned proudly: "Sure, uncle Bolin taught me."

"I thought you can only bend four elements", her daughter frowned.

"There are four base elements: earth, fire, air and water", Korra told her while stretching her leg so she would not get blood on the cushion, "but all of them have sub-skills, and I try to learn all of them." Tara looked impressed, while Asami returned and kneeled before the Avatar to wrap a bandage around her leg.

"How many elements do you know", the child asked, proving that not everything her mother had said had stuck. Korra showed her her fingers while she counted: "Earth, fire, air and water, of course. Energy, metal, lava, lighting, ice, healing, spirity stuff."

"Eleven", Tara repeated baffled, and got her hair ruffled in a "well done" manner for that.

"Shouldn't it be twelve", Asami questioned, trying to come up with the element Korra had missed.

"B.L.O.O.D.", Korra spelled it out for her, because she thought it best that Tara did not know. Asami got visible serious and nodded, she agreed on keeping that one secret.

And Kora was not really proud to know how to bloodbend, either. After what happened with Amon, Katara was the last living bloodbender, but she did not think it would stay that way. When Korra lost the connection to her previous lives she deemed it best to teach her the theory for her own good and for the sake of the Avatar's after her.

Of course it was still illegal to bloodbend, so there was no way Korra could practice what she learned, but she did anyway. One night of a full moon she bended a carcass Naga was about to eat. Katara had taught her that bloodbending either repulsed the persons doing it or drove them crazy with power - for some individuals it did both. For Korra it felt despicable stirring with her senses inside some poor (albeit dead) body, so she never tried it again.

When Asami had asked her the same question as Tara just moments ago, she had to list it, though, because it did not feel right to leave it out. So of course both knew the Avatar bragged with knowing twelve "elements".

"Is the leg falling of", Tara questioned and jerked the two women out of their own thoughts.

"No, because I'm tying it down", Asami answered with a smile, which the child could not return.

"Then why are you so sad?"

"I'm not sad", Korra stated and had a big grin on her face, which was able to fool the child.

"And I'm just concentrating", Asami added, while tugging the bandage in so it would hold until the Avatar was able to heal the wound herself.

"You need to kiss it better", Tara decided and hindered Asami from standing up. The latter just rolled her eyes and kissed the Avatar on the corner of her mouth, which made the child giggle and then throw her hands up in protest.

"That's not how you do it!" But it was too late, her parents had already stood up and were now walking into the kitchen.

Tara pouted at them, than fished for the second sofa cushion to move forward. Since she, unlike her dark skinned mother, was not able to lavabend the ground.

* * *

><p>"I got all of them" Tonraq stated when he put a bunch of newspapers and magazines on the dining table in a way that made the dishes rattle. The table was almost set so he sat down and started flipping through some of them. The rest of the family soon took a seat next to him and started to eat.<p>

"Did you know about Avatar Kyoshi", he questioned when he put the newspaper back on the stack to eat himself, and watched the women shake their heads, "so that's like five Avatars in a row who are into girls?" As he saw the confused expressions, the only man in the room explained: "It's Avatar Kuruk, Avatar Kyoshi, Avatar Roku, Avatar Aang and now Korra."

"Who proceed Avatar Kuruk", Asami questioned with an amused expression. Tonraq looked pleadingly at his daughter and tried to remember, but she was no help at all - she was bad with names, had no interest in history and had very little time between getting a connection to the other Avatars and getting it destroyed for good.

"Avatar Yangchen", Senna answered instead, and when the others looked at her not convicted: "It has to be an Air Nomad, and she was the last before Avatar Aang."

"So the next Avatar is going to be really girlish", Korra asked, laughing, "that'll be so much fun to watch."

They ate in relative silence after that. When most of them had finished, Asami addressed Tonraq: "So what do they say?" She was pointing to the newspapers, of course.

The man had a worried expression when he pushed the magazines over so she could read them.

The stack was contained of newspapers of the current and previous days, because Asami had not had the time to check them the day before. The first newspapers she searched for were the ones from the Elemental Times.

Not surprisingly, they were sensational and still against the Avatar. The one of the previous day had Tara on the title with the headline "SHE HAS TO SUFFER - Because Her Mother Loves Women". The latest issue had a picture of the Sato estate with police in the front and the words "SHE IS BACK - How Long Can The Police Keep Her Safe?".

She skipped both issues, but there was no word of the press conference anywhere - the reporters of the Elemental Times did not like getting their butts handed to them by the Avatar.

Hoping the coverage would get better, Asami took a look at other newspapers. The next made Korra out to be the victim of the press and their relationship to be tragic and romantic, even though they did not seem to approve of it.

Another newspaper insisted on that as well - it was more or less made clear that no one could tell the Avatar what to do anyways, so they should be thankful because it could be much worse. The info box about the Avatar who demanded a fresh wife each year to keep himself from burning down villages made Asami's stomach turn.

Then there were some magazines that reported objectively on the press conference and Tara's abduction. The rest of the papers represented all nuances between the extremes of Korra being the victim and the ultimate evil.

"So what do you say", Tonraq questioned, having read the same newspapers only in a different order. Asami looked up at that question - and realized she had not catched Senna clearing the table nor Korra and Tara going who-knows-where.

"The only one troubling me is the Elemental Times", Asami answered, even though she did not like any of the articles about her person, "but I have a pretty good grasp of why they're doing it, so I guess we just have to be patient."

The older man was about to return something, when the butler entered and spoke up: "Miss Asami? There's a call from the police waiting for you." She sighed and went to get the telephone. Keeping everything together was starting to get draining.

* * *

><p>Korra had vanished into the master bathroom after breakfast and had stared at her reflection for some time now. "Why are you not able to bend", she asked herself, but got nothing except for a confused stare in return.<p>

She was about to punch something when she heard the door open. Only a second later someone dove onto her and cradled her.

"Spirits, Korra, I'm so sorry", it was Asami's voice, not that anyone else would throw himself at her like that. Now the Avatar's problem was of course, she did not think her girlfriend had any right to be sorry for something. Well, maybe except for…

"I don't care that you didn't kiss the cut", she answered, "I actually liked that way better." Asami pushed herself away and looked down at her in bewilderment. She shook her head and her face got solemn.

"I'm sorry for doubting you", she said on the verge of crying, "I really thought you would have finished them." It was a vague statement, but Korra knew who she meant - Tara's kidnappers.

"Who claims otherwise", she questioned, her face not showing any emotion, not even mild surprise.

"The police called because they were finally stable enough to be questioned", Asami said and resumed hugging her girlfriend, "they just wanted to confirm some things these guys said."

"Which things?"

Asami opened her mouth, then shook her head and smiled. "I'd rather show you", she said and pulled her into the bedroom towards the window. Tonraq and Tara had just finished their exercises (the Avatar was excused from them for not being able to bend), and the grandfather had kneeled down and was now praising the child (presumedly, but their grinning faces spoke volumes).

When he entered the house, Tara sat down on the lawn and started meditating - or whatever the child thought the word meant.

Korra gave Asami a confused look, but the latter just moved her face towards their daughter again. In front of Tara's face drifted a bubble of water.

"She… she's a waterbender…?!"

"And not only that."


	18. Coming Clean

**Author's note:** Thanks everyone who took the time to review. I'm honest with you, I didn't know Senna was a healer. I didn't even know she was a bender (but was trying to cover my bases). But I don't believe someone would heal the cut of an adult child without being explicitly asked to anyways. That's like sticking a plaster with little dinosaurs onto a scratched knee… But to make things up, Senna will heal someone somewhere down the road.

* * *

><p>Korra looked confused at Asami. "What do you mean 'Not only that'?"<p>

The other woman smirked: "No one understood how a four year old could push two grown men over. But they testified that she splashed them with water and then froze the floor of the hut, which made them fall. Multiple times."

The Avatar looked really impressed at her girlfriend, then back into the backyard. "How did you know she would bend", she asked baffled by the floating ball of liquid.

Asami chuckled: "Because she did for months whenever she meditated with you. I just thought it was your bending. When the police called I realized you probably never saw what she did on your lap."

Suddenly Korra's smirk got wider. "So you're telling me we'd only need one more element for the Fire Ferrets to return?"

"No", the answer left no room for backtalks.

"But", Korra had probably not heard the underlying tone, "you know I started my probending career as an earthbender training under Bolin, that can't be a coincidence."

Asami repeated: "No."

"But…"

"Korra, no!"

They looked at each other with a stern expression, until Korra suddenly burst into laughter. "Really, you think I'd do that", she asked, "the last thing I want is someone like Tahno hitting my kid. Or worse… like hitting ON her."

Asami sighed in relief and watched their daughter for a moment, until Korra spoke again: "So what's on your to-do list?"

"I'll talk to Chief Gai to clarify to the press that we won't remove the Spirit Wilds", Asami answered, "the press coverage of us is pretty okay, the people from the Elemental Times will make their move soon." Korra looked confused. "Then we have the Mako problem and…" Asami wanted to add "you", but Korra had interrupted: "Let me talk to Mako. You two were only dating, but we had a friendship going at one point."

The other woman was not confident that this was a good idea and she showed it.

"Do I have to go to work tomorrow if I still can't bend", Korra abruptly asked, trying (and failing) to hide her worry.

Asami laughed at this: "This should be on the list, too. I think your mom is right, you should be treated like my other employees." Korra raised her eyebrows at that. "So yes, you have to come."

"Does that mean I have to call you boss, too?"

* * *

><p>"Man, personal protector has to be the worst job ever", Korra lamented loudly when she exited the mansion. The two policemen, who had to make sure she and Asami were safe until the investigations were completed, only looked at her. Evidently, they were not paid to laugh at the Avatar's jokes.<p>

"Actually, I think jobs that make you NEED personal protectors are a lot worse", the one on the right told her. She put a box next to him, on which she had balanced a radio and a vacuum jug. She gave the latter to the man closest to her.

"Have some tea. And we thought a radio might cheer you up for a bit", Korra said grinning. She for one had no idea how they were to protect the Avatar, but police rules were police rules. And police rules stated the family was not safe until they knew without a doubt that nobody would abduct anyone or storm the mansion again.

"Thanks, but we'd need electricity for a radio", the men on the left quibbled, and she just rolled her eyes.

"That's what the Satomulator is for." She put the radio's plug into the box's socket and turned the volume knob - the air soon was filled with music and static. The men hummed in appreciation.

"If this thing runs out of power or blows up, just tell Asami", Korra added and smirked lopsidedly at their frightened faces, "now which one of you is my guy? I have to drive over to the police station."

* * *

><p>Asami would probably have frowned at that behavior, but by the time they reached the police station Korra knew her bodyguards name was Qiang and that he was 26 years old, he lived alone in an apartment near the Avatar-Korra-Park and his last date had been five years back, but his heart had been so utterly broken back then that he could not get over the girl. Not that his shiftwork allowed for much socialization.<p>

In return Qiang now left the honorary title "Avatar" out when speaking to Korra and knew the amusing story of how she bended fire first in a waterbender family.

"Just stay here", she told him when they had arrived at the correct floor, gesticulating towards the benches she had slept on a day prior. Then she went to see her former friend.

"Hey Mako", she greeted when she entered the room Mako now called his own private office.

The firebender frowned at her: "Do you have an appointment?"

"Sure", came the answer, and Mako checked the calendar on his table, shaking his head in disapprovement.

"Just go out there and tell somebody that the Avatar claims to have called, and see who dares to disagree", Korra stated and crossed the arms before her chest.

Mako puffed his cheeks: "So you called?"

"Let's just go with that." 

"Who?"

"Lee." That name was a safe bet, it was the most popular fire nation name, and you could literally enter any room in Republic City, call for a "Lee" and have at least one person answer.

"Korra, that's not funny", Mako said and tried to get back to whatever he was doing, "I'm working."

"That's why I'm here, you can't flee from me this way", she answered with a smirk.

He groaned, but decided to roll with it: "So what do you want?" When she did not answer immediately, he started guessing to make her go away: "You breaking into the triads headquarters will probably not be prosecuted, because they just have to much to hide to testify against the Avatar. The same goes for Tara's kidnappers as long as they survive their injuries, if they die you'll have yourself a murder trial. They will never be able to bend again with the way you trashed their arms." Mako took a deep breath and looked at Korra furiously. "Oh and the demonstration was just bad luck, I guess. The gate gave in and everybody thought the other people wanted to storm the mansion - but once in they didn't know what to do. But they'll atone for this, no worry."

There was a bit of silence until the Avatar registered the policemen before her would not resume talking, so she asked: "How did they even recognize Tara?"

Mako looked as if she had said something incredibly dumb. "Korra, they did not. They recognized your dad, and who else might he go to the park with", he said, an explanation that made her feel dumb as well. But it was no official triad business", he quickly added, "it was more of a spur of the moment thing, they did not think you'd have the time to go after them with everything that is going on in your life right now."

Korra sighed when she finally sat down in front of him: "That's why I'm here, actually." Mako tried to kill her with her gaze, but failed. He hated how she had got him to spill the beans without even trying to.

"We've got a lot going on right now, and we really don't need you to be a crappy friend right now", Korra stated in a lighthearted way, which made him suck his breath in sharply.

"You think I am the crappy friend?"

"What did you want us to do", Korra questioned, eyes narrowed on him, "you could not even live on the same island with us after all the heartache that happened between the three of us. You really would have wanted to know that we were on an awkward date?"

"Well, no", Mako said, trying to make himself look better, "but you could have told me later."

"When we finally kissed on the air ship shortly before I gave myself up to Zaheer, maybe with my last breath when he bended it out of my lungs", the Avatar continued, but had her friend shook his head at every sentence, "then surely in the three years I talked to neither of you and made Asami wonder if we even had a relationship? Or after our reunion where we doubted we could ever go back to how things were?"

Mako looked up after the last question with an angry expression: "Please continue, Avatar, I'd love to hear your excuses after that."

She laughed bitterly. "No, you're right, after that there aren't any more excuses. Just that we had grown apart in all this time." Mako rolled his eyes at this, because it was weak. "It's not as if we told everybody except you", Korra explained, guilt clearly written all over her face, "we told nobody including you."

"I'll humor you", Mako stated, clearly not buying it, "when you moved in, who did you tell of you?"

"My parents, Tenzin and Pema", she started to count, showing four fingers and thinking for a long time, "and Bolin. That's it. He might have told Opal, though." Mako frowned, so she added: "But the press covered it pretty well, so the entire city knew something. We collected the newspaper clippings, if you are interested."

"What about Tenzin's kids", he was now furiously trying to debunk her statement, but she would not let him.

"We did not explicitly tell them, but I think Kya might have explained the meaning behind Asami's necklace at some point." Suddenly Korra looked with a weird expression at him: "Shouldn't you have recognized the necklace, too? What with your brother wearing one at some point?"

"We haven't really seen each other the last three or four years", Mako defended himself, crossing his arms before his chest.

"But you still think it's okay to expect us to come to you with details of our love life", Korra questioned, a smug grin on her face since she knew she had him now. Mako groaned at her.

"What do you want anyways", he asked in utter frustration. Korra smiled widely, put her hand on the desk and leaned forward.

"A second chance at an adult friendship."

Mako just laughed at that and stared at the wall: "That's funny coming from you."

"We'll talk to Bolin and get him and Opal and you and your girlfriend and us together for a nice dinner", she finished, ignoring his quip.

Mako sighed realizing that Korra always got her way, so he should make the best out of it. "Your treat", he ordered and the Avatar shrugged in return.

She stood up after that and held her hand out to him: "Deal?" With no real choice he shook on it. "Say, why are you here anyway, and not outside fighting crime and stuff", Korra asked, already on her way out.

Mako took an angry deep breath: "It kinda rubbed Beifong the wrong way that you found Tara before we did." He suddenly looked up at her and remembered where he was: "Could you go now so I can finally get back to work?"

The Avatar bid him goodbye and left the office, but not before she had the last word: "Thanks."


	19. Back To Work

"Ew."

"Hey, I think I did a pretty good job parking the car", Korra defended herself without even thinking, and only a moment later realized Qiang's exclamation was due to him stepping into a puddle right below his car door.

He tried to get the mud out of his trousers, but only smudged it further. Having learned the hard way that she should never use bending against other peoples trousers, and not being able to either way, Korra told him with a gleeful smile: "Just get yourself cleaned in the bathroom."

"But, the rules..."

He got interrupted with the killer argument: "I'm the Avatar, don't forget."

Qiang nodded and followed her into the house, where she explained to him where the bathroom was. Her words ended with: "And however tempting it looks, don't play with the powder. You'll just stink for days." The policeman thanked her and went his way, while Korra walked into the kitchen to make tea to fill the already empty flask of their personal protectors.

Unbeknownst to them, Asami was pacing up and down in the living room. She was a lot more strained than she let her family know. To make things worse she knew she was unreasonable. Korra had been very, very patient with her from the beginning, and she knew how hard that had been for the Avatar.

But even after all this years she felt it was too soon to get the relationship into the public, because she felt she was lying to people. Every newspaper in the city reported now that she loved women, but frankly, she did not. Yes, there was Korra, but other than that, she always preferred men (except maybe for this one gorgeous woman at the mall, but other women had stared at her, too). She had always thought it would come to her one day, but the way things were going she feared it was not just a phase. And having a girlfriend was not helping to figure any of this out.

In the end, she thought, it would not matter either way. She was going to be with Korra until the day she died (Avatars rarely died of natural causes, and Korra was just way too stubborn to get herself killed, she would probably live to be at least 200 years old), and so nobody would ever know.

When Asami had calmed herself from this issue she realized she had walked over to one of the windows facing the main gate - and was now frowning at the demonstrators. A sign with a vine brought her to what she actually wanted to do while her girlfriend was gone - try to figure out why her Satomulator had blown up. She was just not able to concentrate, which made her mad, which in turn did not allow her to concentrate…

She heard steps in the foyer, and since these were careful and slow, she knew they were not Korra's. So she went over to investigate, and when she saw the person her face fell.

"What are you doing in my house?", she questioned Qiang, who had an innocent expression as he turned to her, "I want you out!"

"But Korra said..."

Asami snubbed him quickly: "It's 'Avatar Korra' for you! Out!"

He already had his hand on the door knob when Korra jogged into the room. She looked weirded out. "Everything okay", she asked with worry, making both of them nod. Before Qiang could leave, she thrusted the thermal jug into his hands.

When the door clicked shut after him Asami explained it before Korra had the chance to ask questions: "Sorry, I'm just a bit jumpy. And then there's a strange man in our house and…" The Avatar had hugged her tightly at that point, not needing another word.

With all the drama in the previous days, they decided they would spend the day relaxing after that - making a nice long trip to the Spirit Wilds as a big happy family (plus two bodyguards, of course). And while every adult tried to talk to Korra to get her to tell them whatever it was that was bothering her, she always answered the same way: "I'm fine, I don't know why I can't bend anymore."

* * *

><p>The following morning had another shock for the family, albeit only a mild one - Korra was still not able to bend. Normally living without bending would be no problem, but she was used to being able to, and there were certain things she did not know how to do without her skills.<p>

It was almost exactly like when she could not move her legs. Sure you could live a rich life without legs, but Korra had regularly pushed herself out of bed in the mornings only to fall flat on her face when her numb legs had given in, because she had taken a painfully long time to getting used to it. The same happened with her bending now - it was a good thing Asami had been present these two days, because Korra often jumped down the stairs using airbending, and she might have broken something if her girlfriend had not held her back.

But the worst problem of them all, which Korra could complain about endlessly, was showering. Seeing her in the bathroom Asami really doubted the Avatar knew how to use a towel. She would take ages drying herself, annoyed that the wet cloth would not absorb any more water. And she really hated the damp feeling after a shower, but that might be just be her upbringing - if you grew up in ice and snow you probably did not care for something like that.

Since she was now just an employee as everybody else, Korra still had to go to work, even if she was totally useless. The one thing that separated her from the rest of the engineers was the bodyguard that followed her. The Avatar had decided to take Qiang to work for "protection", while the other one (she thought his name was Lee) stayed in front of the mansion for Tara and her parents.

When they entered the hall the first thing they saw was the big pile of junk that was once the best one of the Satomulators. Asami's face fell and she clenched her fists, and Korra made a decision: She could understand Asami's perfectionism, and she would always love and support her - but that did not mean she was suicidal enough to work with her today. Or any day.

"Qiang, stay with her", she ordered the bodyguard with a mischievous grin, "if it's not against your rules, help her." She strolled over to her usual workplace, but turned and looked almost frightened over to the man and whispered: "Goodnight, sweet prince…"

"Hey Zan", she greeted when she finally arrived at the other Satomulator.

Her friend did not even look up when she greeted her back with a nod: "Avatar Korra." There was a very awkward pause, and Korra had the suspicion it was for once not her fault. When Zan started searching for something in her toolbox, the Avatar decided to speak up.

"Uh… do you want me to hand you your tools again?"

The engineer took a screwdriver and pushed the toolbox over to the other woman. Korra started to smile like the child she was and climbed with it on top of the Satomulator, were she had sat many hours before when there was nothing better to do.

"So… Zan… you had two days off, too", Korra questioned lightheartedly, but she did not get more than a simple yes in response. Not one to give up, she added: "What did you do?"

"My _boyfriend _decided to go to a museum. It was boring." The way she had spoken the word "boyfriend" made Korra frown for a moment.

"So, you have a boyfriend now", she guessed, "congrats."

"We've been dating for two years."

"A long term commitment is still an achievement", Korra replied slowly getting uncomfortable.

Suddenly a screwdriver flew her way and her muscle memory took over, trying to bend the projectile. When she remembered she could not do that anymore she ducked - and promptly fell off the Satomulator, taking the toolbox with her.

Korra groaned as she sat up and rubbed the arm she had landed on. Zan looked guilt ridden at her, and for whatever reason that felt good. "I'm so sorry", the engineer mumbled quickly, but the Avatar waved her off as she collected all the scattered tools back to where they belonged.

"No, it was totally my fault. I should have told you I can't bend."

"You can't bend", Zan repeated and looked as if she was a fish who could not swim.

Korra shrugged and pushed a crate over to sit on. "It happens. My dad says it's my nerves", she told her and started sorting the contents of the toolbox, "it started after we found Tara and her kidnappers."

Now the engineer was clearly sympathetic and smiled warmly: "Don't worry, it'll come back to you."

"Asami said as much", Korra mumbled and could see the mild smile of the woman in front of her falter. Instantly Zan went back to working on the machine.

"I kinda have the feeling you have a problem with the boss", Korra questioned, looking over to where Asami and Qiang where digging through the pile of metal.

Zan laughed in a way that sounded not really happy, then her head popped up: "I don't have a problem with the boss. I have a problem with you two waving your relationship in everybody's face."

Korra just stared at her. She was pretty sure Asami and her did no such thing. But in case they did she just wanted to say: "Sorry…" Zan just snorted and got back to work. "But do you remember like a week or so ago? When you thought I mastered airbending for her? You were totally okay with us then."

"Because I thought you were just really cute best friends", the engineer explained inside the machine, which made her voice echo for a bit.

Korra smirked: "But we are."

"Best friends don't share the bed", Zan retorted, and it sounded final.

"That's just not true", Korra responded, but when she saw the engineers face she realized what the real problem was, "oooh, you think I might be interested in _you_." Zan scrunched her nose at her straightforwardness, then shrugged in defeat. The Avatar flipped the hammer in her hand when she talked: "Don't worry, you're not my type."

"So greasy sweaty brainy engineers are not your type", Zan replied sarcastically, which made Korra sigh.

The engineer took the hammer from her hands replaced it with the screwdriver she had used just now.

"Is there any way we can make this less awkward", Korra questioned with an clearly frustrated voice.

The other woman did not look up and did not stop hammering when she answered: "Could you start being normal?"

"I'm the Avatar, normal is none of my superpowers", came the the smug reply.

Zan stood up and threw the hammer back into the toolbox, before she answered: "Then, Avatar Korra, there is no way to make this less awkward."


	20. Pudgy

"So, you did not tell her", Qiang said when the Avatar had walked over to help Zan. Asami was already digging through the metal parts and did not seem to have heard him.

"Why would you say that", she finally questioned while sorting the metal into two piles.

"Because I doubt she'd leave you alone with your ex-boyfriend if she knew", Qiang answered with a grin and looked around - when he found some crates he brought one over for Asami to sit on, then a second so he could sit by her side and look at the metal.

"Maybe she is just so darn sure I wouldn't want a man", she said and frowned at her own words - she knew how stupid it sounded, and the bodyguard's chuckle gave away he thought so, too.

"What are you searching for", he questioned, despite burning to follow up on the other subject.

She had just cut herself on the sharp edges of one of the parts and was now sucking her index finger, but still tried to talk: "Black box, the inshides might have data to why the Shatomulator blew up."

"Black box, got it", Qiang repeated and started to help her search.

"She knows I wasn't aware of any relationship while she was recovering", Asami told him while starting a new pile for the part she had just found (the piles were labeled "trash", "useful" and "maybe" in her head).

"But…", he tried to urge her on.

She continued: "But she never asked, and so I never told her details. She's bad with names anyway, she wouldn't have remembered your name even if I had told her."

Another laughter made her look up with a confused expression. "Give her more credit, she's the Avatar", Qiang said, "she has to learn like a million names on a daily basis."

"No really, she's bad, once she...", Asami's story was cut off when they heard a rattling and a splat - Korra had just fallen from the Satomulator.

Asami jumped to her feet immediately, then watched the scene unfold, and sat down again. Qiang looked baffled: "You're not helping her?"

"There's nothing I could do", she answered, "besides that girl has to learn how to take care of herself, even without bending." She sorted three more metal plates before she realized the man had not answered. When she saw his open-mouthed face, she questioned: "What?"

"I think it's weird you're referring to your girlfriend as 'that girl'", he said and grabbed the first sheet of metal, rotating it this way and that way, before holding it and adding, "it doesn't really sound like an adult relationship." Asami opened her mouth to complain, but he cut her off: "And just because you do adult stuff and have a kid doesn't mean it's an adult relationship. It boils down to if you have one kid on your hands or two."

For some reason, the weirdest images appeared in Asami's mind at the moment - Korra playing "the floor is lava" with Tara, she towelling the Avatar down because she was not able to, she preventing her from jumping down the stairs and breaking her neck because of the missing airbending, Korra falling off the Satomulator because she had forgotten AGAIN that she could not bend...

"I love Korra the way she is, thank you very much", she told him sternly, and took the metal he had been playing with for the past minutes out of his hand and onto the "useful" pile.

"So what's her job here anyway", he questioned, watching the Avatar closely, "I assume you don't pay her to flirt with pretty ladies?" Asami looked up at this and saw her girlfriend talking with one of her female engineers.

"Normally she has to bend the spirit energy from the vines, so that we can learn from it and build machines that will do the work on their own", she told him without acknowledging his little quip.

His smile faded when he thought aloud: "Do you need the Avatar for that?"

"No, every waterbending master who is knowledgeable in the arts of spirit bending will do", she told him and shrugged, she knew he was not stupid, so he would know there were not that many of these.

"The final machines will be operated by waterbenders, though", she continued, "it's going to be part of her job to train..." She trailled of, having gotten an idea to what Korra could do. She threw everything in her hands on the "trash" pile and jogged over to where her girlfriend sat.

To her surprise Korra looked somewhat hurt, so the reassignment had to wait: "What's up? Did you hurt yourself falling down?" The Avatar jumped since she had not seen her come over and almost fell from the crate she was sitting on.

"Now, everything is fine", she finally said, giving a nervous sideway glance to Zan.

Asami's face got worried when she saw this, but she tried smiling anyways: "I have a job you can do without bending."

"Sure, boss", Korra said and got to her feet.

When they had exited the hall Korra finally questioned: "So, what should I do?"

"You'll teach and assess all the waterbenders in this company. We'll need people to operate the Satomulators when they're finished", Asami explained with a big smile.

"But you know I'm a bad teacher", Korra stopped walking and threw her hands up, "I'm missing the patience!"

"Just try your best, you're the only one who can do it", Asami said while petting her on the shoulder.

The other woman sighed in frustration and looked at her feet when she resumed walking and mumbled: "You're the boss, boss."

A chuckle made both of them stop again and turn around. Qiang stood there with a wide grin: "Kinky." It should not have surprised them that the bodyguard was following them, but for some reason it did.

Now Asami frowned at him while Korra raised her arm with the palm towards him, and after some seconds, lowered it again. Qiang started laughing at that so hard that he toppled over: "Were you trying to airbend at me?"

"Fire, actually", the Avatar responded and took her girlfriend's wrist to pull her into a walk again, the policeman always on their heels.

When they turned the next corner, two men were walking towards them, giving them a friendly smile. "Asami, we were just on our way to you", the left explained while Asami took the last four steps on her own, leaving Korra and Qiang behind.

"Who are these guys", the policeman questioned.

Korra whispered: "Tuaq, the CEO, and his assistant… I think Lee." Qiang had to suppress a laughter at that, because it had been the fourth person Korra had introduced as "Lee", and probably the fourth person whose name was not Lee.

In Korra's defense, she had never talked to either of these men, but they were close to Asami, without being the kind of friends she would spent her spare time with. In particular these two were the only business associates she allowed in her mansion, and to Korra's knowledge the only people outside their extended family that Asami had talked about her as her "wife" to, even if by accident.

"...and now both the states of Xun and Yi stopped delivering ore, so with our main suppliers gone, we…" Korra had started to listen in to what Tuaq explained, but it was boring her and so she was doing something more fun - like trying vehemently to get her bending to work again.

She brought her attention back when she heard Asami answer: "Let the customers bring back their old goods for scrap metal. Like 'trade us your old car and get a new one for a discount price'."

"Great idea", the CEO answered, which made the Avatar smile. She might not understand what the problem was, but it sounded like she could be proud of Asami yet again. "I'll take Korra to her new assignment and come around to your office, if you like", Asami questioned.

She got interrupted by Qiang: "No you don't." Everyone looked at him. "We told you we could only let Shi stay at your house if you two stayed together."

"Just go with Asami", Korra said, rolling her eyes, "I can take care of myself."

"So can I", Asami told her with a smile.

The Avatar shook her head in disagreement: "You've become pudgy."

With eyes as is saucers Asami sucked air clearly audible; she could not believe that someone would say something like that to her face. She looked at her business partners, who were trying hard to keep a straight face, and did not need to check on their bodyguard, since his laughter could probably be heard on the entire factory property.

"But you are the better cuddler because of that", Korra added, because she was totally lost on what her girlfriend was thinking at the moment.

Tuaq was clearly biting his tongue when he interrupted: "Just come around, or we find a meeting room closer to where the Mrs. is going to work." He and his assistant walked back the way they had come from, and after rounding a corner, started to laugh.

Asami was massaging the bridge of her nose after they were gone, when she said: "You really shouldn't be saying something like that in front of other people."

"But it's true", Korra answered with a hurt expression, her innocent eyes were at least enough to make Asami's headache vanish again.

Qiang was still snickering behind them, which made Korra snap at him: "And you behave, else we'll take Lee with us tomorrow and you'll stay at the mansion."

"Shi", he corrected and tried to stop laughing.

"When will you stop following us around, anyways", Asami questioned him, still not entirely over Korra's statement.

The bodyguard shrugged: "It's not like I'm doing it for fun." For a moment, he started chuckling again, repeating "pudgy" under his breath. "I think the demonstrators who stormed your house and the abductors will have to be finally convicted until they'll withdraw us", he continued.

Asami groaned at that - since the kidnappers were still in the hospital, that sounded like something that could take ages. After a moment of silence, all three of them started walking again.

When they had almost arrived at their destination, Qiang questioned: "So, can I spend my vacation time protecting you guys? I've never had this much fun working before."


	21. The Teacher

"I'm so sorry for Korra", Asami told Tuaq and his assistant when she closed the door of the CEO's office with her bodyguard standing on the outside.

"Don't be", Tuaq answered with a smile and placed a cup of tea in front of her chair on the big table, "I guess stuff like that is why you love her in the first place." Asami could not believe what she was hearing, so she just looked at him with a blank face. The CEO explained it: "You know, no one would ever call_the _Miss Sato pudgy." With a very low voice he added: "Even though everyone saw you." Thankfully, she had not heard him.

What she heard, though, was his assistant adding: "I don't think anyone in their right mind would ever call any woman pudgy."

All they got from the only woman present was a frown, that soon got replaced with a loving smile. "Yeah, you're right, that is why I love that dork", she admitted while she seated herself and started reading the papers they had laid out for her, "so let's talk business."

* * *

><p>Korra was standing in front of an empty classroom and was thinking about what she should do once her students arrived. Asami had talked in her behalf to the personnel management, and there were now messengers running around the factory site telling all the waterbenders to come to this room in an hour.<p>

She first had to evaluate how good they could bend, and how high their potential was. Sadly, she had no idea how to do either of these two. One thing she knew was: she would probably need water, so she took the bucket with the blackboard eraser to the nearest bathroom and filled it up. Back in the classroom she decided she would use the time to clean up the board really nice.

When that was done, she checked the supplies - the walls in the back where lined with bookshelves. The books themselves covered a wide variety of topics, but most were about physics, math, information technology or bending. Then she checked what was inside the cupboard next to the shelves; there were papers, pens and pencils and other office supplies.

With a sigh she looked at the clock and realized there were still 50 minutes left. She had heard people talk about how time went slower when in a classroom, but she had thought they were exaggerating. At least until now. For some seconds she toyed with the idea of stepping outside the room just to see if the time would flow faster.

Finally she walked in front of the room and flopped down to the ground, crossed her legs and started mediating. This morning, she had exercised with Tara and her dad again, but when it came to meditating she was too caught up in the fact that she could not bend, while even her four year old daughter was able to, and thus was not able to concentrate much.

Now she did not think she would fare better, but she had the time to try it out.

"Ah-vatar Korra, what a sight for sore eyes", someone said, and she opened her eyes to muster the man who had just entered the room.

She had to blink her surprise away three or four times before she felt ready to answer: "Tahno?"

"The one and only", the waterbender told her with a leering grin.

His demeanor had not changed much from the way it was all this time back. And his hair was still long and greasy and his eyes had still black circles, while his skin was white as snow.

The Avatar got to her feet and leaned against the teacher's desk, when she questioned: "What are you doing here? Don't tell my you work here."

"But I do", he answered, and for a moment there his smile wavered, "I spent all my money trying to get my bending back... until you healed my _for free_."

Korra could still remember the time she gave half of Republic City their bending back (at least it felt that way). Tahno was special in the way that he was not only thankful for healing her, but mostly for doing it without charging money. It was just now that she realized why - because evidently he would not have been able to buy his bending back.

"So how are you doing", the Avatar questioned in a desperate attempt to make small talk.

He grinned and now entered the room, leaning against the table to her side: "Oh, not bad. And my ego just got a really big boost, y'know?"

She did not want to, but she humored him: "Why's that?"

"You're the only girl to ever shoot me down", he told her, and even though Korra could normally feel when someone was lying, he sounded honest, "and now I finally know why. You're into girls."

The Avatar felt a smirk come up when she retorted: "Yeah, thanks for that, by the way. I was normal until I saw your face."

"Really? Then you should be on your knees thanking me, because you could definitely do much worse than Asami Sato", Tahno said in a suggestive manner, which went straight over Korra's head.

She just nodded and smiled when she thought of her girlfriend, and there was nothing she could do about it.

"So what are we doing here", Tahno asked and took a look around, flicking his hair, "all they said was for all of us waterbenders to come here and wait for the Ah-vatar's instructions. So instruct me." Korra sighed at that and shoved herself up from the table.

"I'm not sure myself, yet", she confessed honestly, "I have to find a way to assess your strength and potential." His laughter made her turn to him with a confusion.

"Someone got hit in her pretty face", he all but purred, "can't you remember your probending days?"

Korra shook her head: "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Then I guess the Fire Rats had not a lot of candidates for the position of the waterbender", he said with a smirk.

She corrected absentmindedly: "Fire Ferrets!"

He walked to the blackboard and put the bucket of water on the teacher's desk. "Waterbending is about being able to simulate the tide", he explained, bending the water to flow in a sideways eight on his right side.

"So you'll give everyone a bunch of water and let them do this exercise for five minutes", he told her while moving back and forth and still having the time to make bedroom eyes at her, "the amount of water they can hold is their current strength. Then you'll train them for a day or a week, and let them do it again. Then you'll have their potential."

Tahno put the water back in the bucket and went to Korra's side. "Good idea", she told him, and looked into the bucket, "but we'll need way more water than that."

He laughed at that when he spat: "Love your optimism, Ah-vatar. But you'll not find a skilled waterbender here."

Korra furrowed her eyes at this and crossed her arms in front of her chest defensively. For some reason, his words sounded like an insult to her. The man just smirked and threw his hair over his shoulder, before he explained: "In case you haven't notice, but the Water Tribes aren't exactly welcomed in Republic City. So there is no one in the entire company who was hired because he was a waterbender - just some lucky guys who were hired despite it."

Since he was talking about her girlfriend's company, she wanted to debunk the theory - but after opening her mouth nothing came out. She had no leverage for objection. "Then why would they even have a list of waterbenders", she questioned after a long while.

Tahno chuckled: "Because we are a liability."

* * *

><p>Korra's mood was bad when her pupils finally arrived. On a wimp she decided to let each of the seven people talk about what they did in the company. Tahno had been right. Four of them were cleaners, one a janitor and two (including Tahno) worked hard shifts on the assembly line. But what shocked her even more was that all of them were white. In fact, the only two people she knew to be dark skinned like her where Tuaq and his assistant, and they had been in the company from the very beginning.<p>

Still mad at the world she explained what she wanted to do with them, and her former probending colleague showed the exercise. He was right with his judgement, though - neither of them was trained in the bending arts and only one of the cleaners was able to bend the entire bucket of water; and only because she confessed to using waterbending to mop the floors sometimes (which evidently was against the rules).

When she dismissed the class for lunch she suddenly found the silver lining: She could make these persons' lives so much better. When Asami had explained to the personnel management what they wanted from the waterbenders, she had used the word "promotion", and seeing her students' background she assumed it was a rather big one. She just had to teach them well and make them suitable to work on the Satomulators.

She scribbled some of her ideas onto a piece of paper and did not even react to the knock on the door.

"Care to join me for lunch", Asami questioned with a smile, which soon faltered when Korra did not react at all.

She walked over so she was able to look over her girlfriend's shoulder and finally got the response: "Yeah, sure, in a moment." Of course, the Avatar had misspelled some of the symbols, because she was not able to write and talk at the same time, so she crossed them out and started again.

"You're really getting into this", Asami mumbled, more to herself, because she did not want to distract Korra even more.

In one swift motion the Avatar stood up from her seat, cupped Asami's face with her two hands and pressed a big kiss on her lips. Pulling her towards the exit, she explained: "What can I say? I love helping people."

"With that and your handwriting, you would have made a fine physician as well."


	22. Mud Fight

Asami was really proud of how Korra handled the lessons and especially how she talked to everyone in charge about what her plan was and how she would need at least two weeks to be sure which of the waterbenders were suitable for the work. She had gotten one week for the same task, so there were four days still remaining, but that was pretty good as well.

When they got home they were really relieved that Qiang had to stay outside - even though he was soon replaced with another policeman for the night shift. He was a nice guy, but Korra could not forgive him for laughing at Asami.

The evening routine was nothing special, everything had gone back to how things were before, with Tara telling them how great her grandparents were and what they had done all day.

So the first thing that was out of the ordinary happened the next morning, when Asami was awakened by multiple doors slamming, trampling in the halls and an overjoyed Avatar screaming: "Bending's back!" Then there was the sound of something bouncing down the stairs and a loud thud, followed by an exclamation a lot quieter: "Airbending's still gone, though!"

After that, Asami had really no choice, she jumped groggily out of bed and went to the entry hall, were Korra sat on the foot of the stairs and healed the wound on her leg from some days back. There was no real question were she had gotten the water from, since the cut flowers next to the frontdoor were black and withered.

While Asami still thought about if she should just go back to bed for some minutes, she saw Senna and Tara walking curiously towards the source of the racket.

"Mooom", Korra shouted when she got a glimpse of the older woman, "I bumped my head falling down the stairs. Could you heal it?"

"Sure, dear", came the answer, and Asami had a hard time trying to remember when she had seen Senna so genuinely happy. The Water Tribers split the water between them and both went on to heal.

"Gran gran", Tara questioned when she arrived next to her mommy and looked inquisitively at what was going on, "can I do that, too?"

"Sure", Senna said with an even bigger smile, "just get your hands in the glowing water."

Korra flinched when Tara's hand entered the glowing water on her head. "Mom", she complained, "can't she learn this stuff on something… you know… dead?"

"Shush, Korra", the grandmother explained patiently, "how do you think you learned it?

"On dad, but that's different", Korra said, pouting.

Asami on the top of the stairs could not move, she liked watching the three generations of waterbenders interact and she did not want to disturb the scene. Going back to bed, though, was not entirely off the table. A thing she realized was, that Korra was clenching her first on every sudden movement of Tara - she had not realized that it might be painful to be healed by a novice.

"How's that different", Senna wanted to now, and Korra made her bubble of water flow to the liquid on her head after she had finished healing her leg.

After collecting her thoughts, she explained: "Because when I was Tara's age, dad was already this big warrior. Nothing I did could ever hurt him."

The oldest of the three chuckled at that for a moment, then warmly explained: "You're wrong. You did hurt him. And your dad is a big sissy, he complained a lot when you were not around."

Korra jerked her head up at this and made the other two lose the water for a moment, even though it was not entirely clear who was now holding the ball of water above her head. Tara, who had spent the entire time with her tongue sticking out of her mouth in concentration, now stuck her hands into the floating ball, but was not able to make it glow on her own.

"He complained", Korra repeated in bafflement, "about me? His princess? Hurting him?"

"Yes", Senna said and laughed at the expression her daughter had, "but he knew you had to learn somehow." The old woman seemed to search the Avatar's eyes for what was really bothering her, and when she found it, she continued: "Your dad is a hero to you because he is your dad, just as you and Asami are going to be heroes to Tara. Believe me, your dad and I were in no way better suited for having a kid than you two are."

"At least one of you is a male."

Asami was not sure if she had understood the words correctly, and from what she saw of Senna, even she seemed indifferent, but Tara interrupted the thought anyway: "How do I make the water glowy?"

The grandmother took a hold of the still floating water bubble and made it glow, bringing it back to Korra's head. She started calmly explaining what to do, and Asami decided this was a good time to go down the stairs.

"Morning, girls", she cheerfully exclaimed.

She got an equally cheerful response from Tara: "Grandpa's a sissy." The women laughed at that and Asami kneeled in front of Korra to ask her something, while Senna explained to her granddaughter that it was a bad idea to tell that to Tonraq's face.

"So, your bending is back", Asami questioned, and Korra grinned proudly when she produced a flame in the palm of her hand, which she instantly extinguished with some drops of the water she was currently been healed with, compelling the follow up question: "And earth?"

"I was on my way to test it."

Asami rolled her eyes at that. When Senna stated she was finished, Tara jumped on Korra's back before the latter had the time to stand up. The Avatar jumped to her feet anyway and ran outside.

"Is it always like that", Senna questioned when both walked to the kitchen. The two of them talking while making breakfast had become a routine for them.

Asami sighed when she answered: "Frustratingly, yes. The bending gets lost after a fight, she has some days where she is helpless like a polar bear pup, then gets it back, always fire first, then water, earth and much later, air. She has no idea why it's gone and if it's back, she doesn't want to talk about it because she believes it will stay with her from now on."

Senna was rummaging inside the cupboards when she said: "I actually meant the part where she jumps from the stairs without checking if she is able to bend first."

"Yes, that, too", Asami said under her breath and felt silly for having told Korra's mother all of this - of course the older woman would have known.

"One day she won't be able to bend in an important fight", the older woman said with a worried tone of voice, and Asami concurred.

"That's what I've been telling her, too. It's just not easy. If an arm is broken, you put it in a splint until it gets better. You can't put a brain into a splint."

There was a silence, because neither knew what to say and how to help Korra. It was interrupted by screaming in front of the window - Korra and Tara were fighting in the mud of the previous rainy night. At least that was a good sign that her earthbending was already back.

Tonraq seemed upset when he entered the kitchen some minutes later. He greeted the women already present and opened the window to yell to his daughter: "Korra, come in, please." It was not long until everyone was sitting on the table; the Avatar had luckily taken the time to bend the mud out of their clothes and hair, and at least some food was present, the rest stood half-finished in the kitchen.

"I'm really sorry, but there's a situation, and I am needed as the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe and to counsel Eska and Desna", he stated matter-of-factly.

The first reaction he got was a long wail from his granddaughter: "Don't go!"

"What happened", Korra asked, while Asami had taken Tara on her lap and was trying to calm her.

Tonraq looked at her for a moment, trying to find the right words, until he said: "There is going to be war, and our allies want us to support them." At this point, Tara's crying got louder, even though the adults assumed she would not be able to understand a word of what was happening. The women looked at Tonraq with frightened faces.

"Where… are we… is it...", Asami had multiple questions, but trying to ask them all at once was a bad idea.

The only man smiled at her: "No, don't worry. At the moment it's only local, between two states in the Earth Kingdom, but both sides are trying to form alliances with other states."

"You're gonna be dead", Tara mumbled in Asami's shirt, which made her mother look at Tonraq questioningly.

"No, princess", he told her and almost jumped to her side, stroking her back, "nobody's going to die. I need to go to prevent bad people from starting a war."

The child was not calming down and now started to cling to Asami in a way that actually hurt. Not long after she started punching and kicking, too. "Tara", she started to complain, but stopped when she felt Korra's hand on her shoulder. There were no words needed, as Korra took the crying child. One of her callused hands rubbed circles on the child's back, while she started whispering into her ear and walking out of the room.

The remaining three adults watched the door the Avatar had just exited through with plain worry.

"Maybe it's good these two are gone", Tonraq stated after Tara's whining had quietened down in the halls of the mansion, "Asami, do you want Senna to stay?"

Asami looked at him with bafflement, then at his wife. She was starting to smile when she answered: "No, you should stay together. I know how hard it is for me when Korra is away."

"It would be no problem, really", Senna assured, but Asami shook her head.

"No, there's no reason. Korra's okay. At least as okay as she can get."

Tonraq nodded and stretched to his full size. "So then we'll go as soon as possible."

"Do you want to take our airship", Asami questioned, "you'll get home way faster that way, and after you're done, you'll just send it back." Suddenly Tonraq pulled her into a bear hug.

"Yes, thank you", he said and pressed her even closer, "and thanks for everything you do for Korra." Asami wanted to answer, tell him that it was nothing, because honestly she loved the woman as well, but she got interrupted when she heard a cough at the door.

Korra stood in the doorway with Tara, who looked as if she had drifted off, and next to her was President Raiko and two of his bodyguards.

"Asami, we have to talk."


	23. Travel Preparation

"I want you two to come with me to the State of Lu."

Asami had just closed the door to the parlor where Raiko and his bodyguards waited, when Korra had started their little one on one talk. Tara was sleeping her temper tantrum off in the general vicinity of her packing grandparents.

"I'm not going into a war zone, and neither is Tara", Asami said sternly, but Korra laid her hands on the taller woman's shoulders and smiled.

"Lu is no war zone. The states of Xu and Yi are at war, Lu is close to both, but remains neutral."

"It's still dangerous", Asami sighed and worry crept on her face.

Her girlfriend squeezed her to make her look at her: "So is Republic City. Remember, there are four policemen guarding our house." Korra looked in the direction of the main entrance, where she assumed either the two of the night shift or the two of the day shift would be standing. "If something happened to you, I'd never forgive myself. Or Qiang. I would totally hurt him if something were to happen, the way he laughed at you."

There was a little chuckle stuck in Asami's throat when she mumbled: "That was kind of your fault for the whole 'pudgy' affair."

"No matter", Korra shook her head, "you're coming with me. You're safer with me in a war zone than alone anywhere else."

Asami peeled the hands from her shoulder: "Korra, I have a job to do."

"I don't care", Korra just laughed, and the most alarming thing was - she was honest, "quit your engineer job as well, and we'll sell the mansion and cram the three of us into a room on Air Temple Island where we have to sleep in a bunk bed."

"A bunk bed", Asami repeated, and got a confident nod in return.

"I'll sleep on top, you can have the bottom, and Tara will sleep in a drawer."

For some seconds, Asami had followed the Avatar's words, and now that she remembered what the original topic was, she massaged the bridge of her nose. She really had no idea if it was safe to go with Korra. On the other hand, she had really wished they could go together for some time now.

"If we do this", she started slowly, "you'll have to do something for me." Normally Korra would have wiggled her eyebrows at a statement like this, but Asami's tone did not allow it. "You and Tara will visit my dad with me", the older woman finished and looked at her girlfriend with determination.

Korra on her end looked away and sighed: "We talked about this, he might…"

"Yes, he might hurt your or Tara's feelings", Asami agreed, reiterating ever conversation about this topic ever, "or mine. But I want it to be HIS decision, not yours. And if he hates me because I'm dating not only a bender, but the Avatar, then at least I have closure."

"Okay, we'll visit him."

Korra had said it with a nod, which made Asami smile when she decided, "so we're coming with you. But the moment war breaks out in Hu Tara and I will go back to Republic City."

"It's Lu", Korra corrected and rolled her eyes, "you're really bad with names, you know that?"

The Avatar took a deep breath, then opened the parlor door again and stepped in, closing it behind her. President Raiko was already irked by the long time he had to wait.

She stood in front of him with a straight back, arms behind her back and legs slightly parted; if she had worn a uniform, she would have been a perfect soldier. And sadly Korra knew she was nothing more to Raiko, so she gave him the satisfaction of having the upper hand… for now.

"So as I was about to say, before you decided that personal matters were more important to you", President Raiko continued in an angry tone of voice, "I'm sending you to the State of Lu with part of the United Force. We want to show Xun and Yi that we will use our military if necessary."

Korra frowned at that, but did not say a word, since she had learned that her goal in these kind of situations was to prevent the army from being "necessary".

"But the real leverage is that we will forbid the import of their goods into Republic City", he finished, which made the Avatar curious.

"What are they exporting?"

"Ore", Raiko answered, and he somehow sounded cheery, almost maliciously so, when he added, "these two states are the main suppliers for Future Industries."

"No", Korra gasped wide eyed, suddenly remembering what she had heard at work, "you can't prohibit Future Industries from importing their ores - you're forcing them out of business."

Raiko crossed his arms and looked around when he snarled: "So you're telling me this mansion - which you didn't even earn yourself - is more important than the lives of the men, women and children in Xun and Yi?"

"No, of course not", the Avatar had answered way to quickly; her brain had not yet catched up with any kind of argument.

"Then just stop letting your personal life interfere with your Avatar duties for once", Raiko spat and stood up, "you're leaving at noon from Base Charly. "

"I'm taking my family with me", Korra suddenly decided, which made Raiko stop halfway to the door.

"You are what", he asked and put his hands on his hips, "what did I just tell you about your personal life?"

She ignored him: "And we won't make it till noon. Someone has to decide what to do with the bodyguards the police ordered for our safety."

Raiko took the steps towards the Avatar and pushed his index finger into her shoulder: "You're forgetting who you are."

"I'm the Avatar", Korra decided, "just my pinky is more powerful than you'll ever be. Deal with it."

"If you're not in Lu by tomorrow morning there will be consequences", he told her with an dangerous snarl, then he left the room without another word, followed by his own bodyguards.

Korra somehow managed to smile despite everything, and when she was sure Raiko had left the property, she went to see what Asami was up to.

Amazingly, the former CEO of Future Industries had taken the time to prepare the trip. She had called her company and made sure both of them were excused, and now she was whirling through the bedroom and putting clothes into a sea bag and a suitcase. A small colorful bag already laid in the hall.

"Could you pack clothes for each nation", Korra questioned, since it was hardly news to her that Asami did all the preparation - in fact, that was the only reason she was usually well dressed on her travels instead of wearing the same outfit for weeks.

"I already did", Asami answered, then stopped for a moment to look up, "so what did he say? Are we allowed to go together?"

"I didn't ask permission", Korra answered with a toothy grin.

"We just have to find a pension somewhere, because I won't stay in a military camp with the two of you", she continued. "But I'll know just the place."

Asami nodded, then questioned: "You want to take the car?"

"I was thinking of taking the train", Korra said, shrugging, "but I don't know. Do you want to take your baby?"

"I want to take this one", Tara interrupted and showed them a stuffed fire ferret.

"Just put it in your bag, sweetie", Asami told her, and explained to Korra: "I told her she could take exactly one toy with her."

"Woa, can I, too", the Avatar questioned way to happily, but was shot down by her daughter.

"Mommy, you're an adult. You can't bring toys."

"Can I bring something different", Korra questioned and kneeled down to the child, "adult stuff… like…" She had to think really hard, because every idea she had was entirely inappropriate for Tara. "...a newspaper?"

The child frowned at that and thought for a long while, then decided: "No. You buy one there."

"Nope, you can't", the Avatar explained and now helped to put the fire ferret into the child's already full bag, "it's too expensive to deliver them to the rural areas, and there are not enough potential buyers to print them out there."

Asami looked up at this: "Wait… are you saying no one will know about us?"

"I'm saying no one will know _us_", Korra corrected with a nod.

"Could you pack your own washbag", Asami stated, looking through the sea bag and suitcase to see what was missing, "and you're telling me people don't recognize a Water Triber named Korra as the Avatar?"

"You'd be surprised", Korra said laughing while she went to get the washbag like she was asked to, "they're always like: 'Korra? Like the Avatar? What a coincidence!' And someone in the vicinity would always ask: 'But what if she _is _the Avatar?' And then they'd go: 'No, she's way too short to be the Avatar.' I even had one person calculating, that the Avatar, as Water Triber in my age, should at least be taller by a head."

Asami smiled amused at that and mumbled: "You are pretty short."

Korra put the washbag into her sea bag and corrected: "I'm compact!"

"Katara, what are you doing", Asami suddenly shouted, because the child had emptied the contents of her bag.

Now she was looking innocently at Asami and mumbled: "I don't wanna wear blue or red." Korra had a hard time suppressing her laughter when she walked over to pack everything back into the bag.

"You have to, kiddo", the Avatar explained to her, "people are always friendlier when you're wearing the same colors." Tara frowned at that, so Korra confessed: "And I don't like red either."

A sentence like that provoked a detailed look at her clothes, which made Asami quip in: "You might want to change out of your pyjamas."

"Why? It was adequate for a meeting with the president", Korra said with a laugh, but after zipping Tara's back shut, started to get changed.

"Korra, we're…" They could hear Tonraq's voice before they could see him. He was looking confused at the colorful bag Tara was unpacking again. "What are you doing", he questioned when he looked into the open bedroom door where Asami was still packing, "she's not forcing you to take part in that war?"

Korra's voice echoed around the corner, since she was changing: "Stop pretending I'm just a tall child!"

Her girlfriend mumbled something like "you're not even tall", making Tonraq laugh for a moment.

"I'm taking them with me, but not into the war zone", the Avatar continued and hopped towards the bed, one leg already in her trousers, and trying to stick the other leg into them as well.

"Korra, I'm serious, if you let anything happen to Asami or Tara…", Tonraq threatened pretty vaguely, making Korra pout at him.

"Stop lecturing me."

He shook his head and tried to remember why he had come over: "Anyways, we are ready to go."

The crying made him realize his granddaughter was sitting only some steps away from him in a pile of clothes and had evidently been listening. "Do~o~on't go~o", she pleaded.

He moved over: "You gotta see the bright side, little princess." Tara frowned without stopping the whining. "Since it's totally Korra's fault that we can't spend more time with each other, she can't say no when we ask her if you can stay at the South Pole with gran gran and I", he explained to the child, and her eyes lit up.

Just to be on the safe side she looked over to Korra, who finally had gotten her trousers on. "Mommy", she questioned, and the addressed woman shrugged.

"Fine with me."

"After her fifth birthday", Asami added, because she was getting uncomfortable imagining her little girl in the harsh climate.

"See, that's only some more months", Tonraq said with a smile and helped to put her things into her colorful bag again.

"I'm ready", Senna said when she had walked over to the spot in the hallways, where her husband and grandchild sat.

"Do you want one of us to drive you to the airship", Asami asked the grandparents, which Tonraq answered with visible scepticism.

"Depends on which one of you."

The Avatar thrusted out her lower lip at that, which made Senna jump in to try and heal the situation: "Don't worry, we called a cab. It's already waiting for us."

The five of them walked together to the front door of the house, where they said good bye in a big hug. "We love you all so much", Senna said while they were still holding each other.

When they separated, Tonraq kneeled down to Tara: "You be brave. You can come visit us soon."

His wife had just hugged Asami again, whispering: "Please take good care of these two girls for us."

He had moved over to his daughter, holding her into a headlock, which bending powers or not, she was not able to prevent. "And you'll be good to Asami and Tara, or else…", he repeated, which made Korra rub her neck in an irked fashion when he released her.

"How come Asami gets asked nicely and I always get threatened", she questioned, provoking a smile from her parents.

"Because she is not prone to doing stupid things", Tonraq told her with a smirk.

Korra just sighed at this and looked at them with confusion: "But you _do _still remember that I am your daughter, and Asami's the outsider?"

"Do we really look like we care?"


	24. Bodyguard

"Here are your guys back, good as new."

Korra practically shoved Qiang and Shi into Lin's office, which made the head of police frown even more than she usually did. Looking over Korra, Asami and Tara clutching her fire ferret, her mood fell even more.

"We're going to be out of town and don't need them anymore", Korra tried to explain, but Lin would not have any of this.

"So you think because you're treating your little picture-perfect family to a vacation, bad people will stop going after you", she questioned bitterly, then addressed the bodyguards: "You'll go home and fetch your stuff. You'll work the full shift from dawn till dusk and get the overtime paid. Sleep close to them, in case something happens to them at night."

Both men groaned at the prospect, and neither Korra nor Asami could blame them - they had still be friends with Mako when he worked as a full time bodyguard for Wu, and they knew really well how exhausting the job had been.

"Chief, Korra is conscripted for the war of Xun-Yi", Asami solemnly stated, which made Lin's eyebrows rose for a moment.

"Korra as a soldier", she laughed and talked to her men, "that's so funny. Can you imagine the kid as a soldier, reporting for duty half an hour late dressed like that? I wonder what her commanding officer would say."

Korra tried to kill Lin with her gaze (which did not work very well), and crossed her arms in front of her chest defensively while she stated: "They usually said: 'Good morning Avatar Korra, thank you so much for showing up, even though you have a crazy tight schedule!' Then they offered me tea. " Tara giggled at that, not because she was understanding what was going on, but because she loved it when her mommy did funny voices.

Lin examined the Avatar as if she was about to do the army physical herself to prove that the Water Triber was not fit to be a soldier. Finally she talked to the bodyguards: "Shi, report back to Mako, you're resuming your work here. Qiang, get your stuff, you're going on a little vacation with Miss Sato. If Korra wants to play in a war, she has to take care of herself on her own."

"Isn't Qiang my guy", Korra questioned when Shi saluted and left the room.

Lin mirrored the Avatar's defensive posture when she crossed her arms: "I don't care, Shi has a family and Qiang has nobody…"

"Hey", Tara spoke up - she might not understand the big words, but that was something she could wrap her head around, and she did not like when someone said mean things, "he has us!" The child was rewarded by Asami with a light punch to get her to quiet down.

"Now out", Lin said and sat down on her desk, and the persons did as they were ordered.

Korra was the first to admit she did not know much about her bodyguard, but she had become used to his always present sly smile and his quip whenever he overheard a conversation he found amusing. Evidently, he did not take the police work seriously. But now he seemed annoyed and almost sad, and she pitied him.

"Don't worry", she told him and clapped his shoulder in a friendly manner, "we'll have fun." He did not look convinced.

"I hate to rush you", Asami said when she got a glimpse of a clock in the foyer of the police department, "but we really need to hurry up."

"So we'll all drive to the park to get Qiang's stuff, then drive directly to the main station", Korra asked, and Asami nodded.

While they walked outside the police building and towards the car, Asami cheerfully told Tara: "Did you hear that, sweetie? You get to play one last time on your favorite playground before we leave the city." The child cheered, while Korra frowned.

* * *

><p>Sure enough, the playground was exactly across the street from where Qiang lived. Tara played happily, Korra bended the sand absentmindedly (since mastering sandbending was still on her to-do list, but she had not found a good teacher yet) and Asami sat one the one bench that had a good view towards one of the clock towers in the city, while trying to get her bodyguard to hurry up with sheer willpower.<p>

When Qiang exited the house, she reacted quickly and just plucked Tara from one of the monkey bars while calling for her girlfriend.

It was not long until all of them entered Central City Station, got themselves tickets and boarded the train to the State of Lu with only minutes to spare.

After putting the baggage away and finally sitting down in one of the compartments Asami sighed in relief.

"Where's the statue of mommy in here", Tara questioned Asami, face glued to the window while she searched the station.

"I only build one in the park", Asami answered with a smile. She sat opposite of her daughter, with Korra beside her, while Qiang and his bad mood sat next to the child.

"The one in the park doesn't look like her", Tara said and Korra earned an angry gaze from her girlfriend for that. Asami knew pretty well that there was only one person in the entire city who thought so, and evidently this mysterious person had filled Tara's head with her unqualified opinion.

"That's because the statue was created when your mother was still young and pretty", Asami finally said in a teasing tone of voice.

Korra just leaned back into her seat and grinned at Asami: "And now she's getting pudgy. But we love her anyways, right Tara?" The kid nodded vigorously, and Asami punched Korra for that.

A low growl interrupted the conversation. "My belly hurts", Tara stated and held her stomach. Asami picked her up and put her on her lap without thinking, but then realized that since Tara and Korra had been excused from breakfast because of the tantrum, neither of them had eaten anything the entire day. When she turned to her girlfriend, Korra had already opened the compartment door and was now padding herself down in the search for something.

Asami put the child down and gave the Avatar the money she was searching for. "Don't you want to come to the dining car with us", Korra asked, and the other woman shook her head.

"I'm not hungry. But bring me some tea on your way back, please."

Korra nodded and turned to Qiang: "What about you?"

"You heard Beifong", he answered grumpily, "I have to stay with her." He pointed with his head towards Asami, just in case anyone was wondering.

"Suit yourself." And with that, Korra and Tara were gone.

There was a long uncomfortable silence in the cabin while the train finally started to move.

"So is this some kind of master plan to spend some time with me", Asami suddenly asked without looking at the man.

He looked out the door, away from her, when he bitterly stated: "Yeah, right. After not being able to get over you for five years the one thing I _really _want is to see you being happy with someone else 24/7." He sighed and even though he tried hard to avoid it, she could hear his voice break: "I really thought you'd come back when you left to figure your feelings out. And now you're back in my life in the worst possible manner."

"Sorry", Asami mumbled and tried focusing on the buildings in front of her, because she was quite sure that the moment she turned to Qiang, she would break down and cry.

"Oh, and I thought since the newspaper did not report that there was another man in your life, that meant you still had feelings for me", he said and leaned back into his seat, crossing his arms in front of him, "it would have been really nice if you had told me before you weren't into men."

Asami laughed and turned at his words, but seeing him hurt so badly, she quieted down quickly. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I think I might like both men and women." She looked out the window again. "Well, men and Korra actually."

"Now you sound like a sl-" The hooting loco drowned Qiang's last word out.

"You know what", Asami spat in his direction, "that's none of your business. Just do your job and leave me alone."

He breathed out loudly and looked into her direction: "Maybe I'll do that. Is it part of my job to tell _your _girlfriend that _we've_ dated?"

Asami whirled around to give him a piece of her mind, but was surprised to see Korra with furrowed brows struggling with the door. Qiang interpreted her gaze correctly and turned around, and after realizing what was happening, opened the door fully.

The Avatar had brought the food back to them. She was holding two bowls of rice in one hand, and four empty cups stacked on one another in the other hand. Tara next to her was concentrating hard to keep the one rice bowl she was holding straight, but the broth on her hands showed she had not been very successful with that. Between both of them flew a ball of a steaming light gray liquid, that followed Korra around as she entered the compartment.

She gave the bigger bowls to Asami and put the four cups onto the little window sill, then separated the floating tea into four parts and let it fall into them. By then Qiang had helped Tara sit down without spilling more of her food, so Korra gave him one of the rice bowls.

Finally, she took the chopsticks that were stuck between the fur around her hips and her trousers, and handed them to Qiang and Tara. While they started to eat, she reheated one of the cups of tea and traded it with Asami for her bowl of rice.

"Thanks", Asami said with a guilty expression.

Qiang nodded with a full mouth: "Yeah, thanks Korra."

A small nod was all he got from Korra while she started to eat. It was pretty clear from her facial expression that she had heard Qiang's statement earlier.

"Smells delicious", Asami mumbled after a while to overcome the awkward silence. Korra held some of the meat out for her to eat, and she accepted it with a nervous smile.

"Do you want to eat the rest of it? I've suddenly lost my appetite", Korra said and without waiting for the response, put the bowl in Asami's lap and got herself one of the tea cups.

With a small sigh Asami started to eat, just to avoid the confrontation. But when Korra finished her tea, she shoved the rice bowl right back into her hands and gave her a stern look. Since the Avatar did not want to argue as well, and just maybe because she was still really hungry, she ate the rest of the food.

When Qiang had finished his bowl (in which Tara had poured some of her rice because it was just too much for her), Korra took the opportunity to get out. She had already stacked the dishes to an incredible high tower, when Asami took half of the bowls and opened the door.

"I can just bend that stuff back to the dining car", Korra told her stubbornly.

Asami closed her eyes because her girlfriend's manner hurt her, but she knew very well that it was her own fault.

"Tara, sweetie, cuddle with your fire ferret and take a little nap", she said with a smile to her daughter, then just mumbled to Korra: "And we should talk in private."


	25. Prince and Princess

After returning the dishes, both stood on one end of their wagon in front of the window, watching the landscape fly by.

"I don't know why you didn't just tell me", Korra started, not turning to her girlfriend.

"Because I waited for the right moment", Asami answered, then forced a chuckle, "it turns out there is no right moment to tell your wife you've been dating the guy who keeps following you around all day."

Korra turned her head to look at her: "Why? I already know you dated a lot of guys."

"Not a lot", came the angry reply; Asami was puffing her cheeks at that hurtful comment, "at least I didn't crush on an entire compound full of people."

There was a lopsided grin on the Avatar's face as she looked out of the window. "Not the entire compound! Only the girls." She made a small pause. "And I still think you dated more people than I ever crushed on."

"You're on", Asami stated icily, she hated how Korra's words made her sound like - she was not like that, "let's talk numbers."

Korra had already started to count (with her fingers, nonetheless), when she suddenly shook her head violently. "What are we doing", she questioned, "I don't want to fight. You know I don't care for what you did before Mako."

A big sigh made Korra look over to her girlfriend. For whatever reason, Asami did not seem to be relieved, but was biting her lower lip. "It wasn't before Mako."

The Avatar furrowed her brows at that. For her, that was entirely impossible. Awkward dating aside, she assumed Asami would have told her if there was someone she liked. Except maybe for the time...

"Korra, you were gone three years", Asami almost yelled out, but quieted down when she looked down the aisle, hopeful that no one had heard her, "I didn't know if you were dead or had found yourself a nice waterbender girl and started a family with a bunch of polar bear dog puppies." A flicker in her girlfriend's eyes told Asami she was not too far off from what the other girl's secret desires were. "So after two years I thought I'd treat myself to going out with the first boy who asked."

Korra looked sceptically towards their compartment: "But him?"

"He's a sweet guy", Asami defended her former boyfriend, "you two have a lot in common. I think that's why I liked him so much."

The Avatar looked up at that, not unlike Naga had when someone had mentioned food. "If he's so great, why did you break up", she questioned, not even sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

"Because of your letter", Asami answered, "when you wrote, I realized you weren't dead, and there was no waterbender girl and no polar bear dog puppies, and I..."

"You realized that you loved me", Korra finished with a big grin.

"At least I realized it was weird how many feelings I still had for you."

"So you broke up?"

Asami leaned closer to the window, because she did not want to face the other woman at the moment. "No", she finally said, "he broke up because I told him I thought I was in love with someone else and he wanted to give me the space to figure it out." She sighed again. "He thought I would come back to him for sure, but we didn't talk again until he turned out to be our bodyguard."

"Well, that's sweet", Korra said, "and dumb." After a moment of silence, she added: "Letting you go, I mean."

When Asami turned to her, she was annoyed: "You left for the South Pole, too."

"So I know what I'm talking about", Korra said with a smirk, "worst decision of my life."

Asami relaxed at that. The Avatar had done her fair share of dumb decisions, and many of them could have gotten her killed. Even though Asami did not agree, it was flattering to know she thought _that _was her worst mistake.

"So you're okay with... everything", the older woman questioned and moved back from the window to look over at her girlfriend.

"Nothing I can do about it", Korra answered and shrugged, "but I'm not okay with you not telling me stuff."

"I'm starting to think we should have had the girls' night out with the mandatory talk about boys when we were just best friends", Asami joked, and when Korra scoffed, added: "but you were making things difficult."

"Saaami", someone shouted behind them, and when they turned to look at the source of the racket, they saw Qiang waving at them with an embarrassed grin, "are you two having a moment?"

"I'm gonna smack him in the...", Korra started, but then they saw that there was another adult next to the policeman.

"Because we need the tickets", he yelled, and the Avatar decided she would still smack him, only later, when the conductor was gone.

"Just take them from the small red bag", Asami called back.

Qiang grinned way to wide when he answered: "Your purse, got it." Then he vanished into the cabin. Korra had laughed at his statement, because she, too, knew how Asami took pride in not being a girly girl with a purse, and therefore called the small red bag "purse" whenever possible, just to spite her.

They watched how Qiang gave something to the conductor, so everything seemed normal enough to resume their conversation.

"Are we good", Asami started, taking each of Korra's hands into one of hers.

The Avatar nodded in response and pulled her girlfriend down to peck her on the lips, timid at first but soon getting bolder. It was not long until Korra had one of her hands on the small of Asami's back, and the other in her hair pulling her head towards her.

They immediately scattered when they heard what sounded like someone vomiting right next to them. It was the conductor, who grinned proudly at their flustered faces.

"That's weird, I've never seen a travel-sick conductor before", Korra stated, and for a moment Asami was not clear on if she was joking or not.

"Believe me, it's not the travelling that's making me sick", the man retorted sharply, and just in case they were dense, added: "It's you two."

"Really", Korra smugly replied, crossing her arms and trying to look down to him (which was hard, since he was taller by a head), "you're angering the most powerful human?" To prove her point, she motioned only her hand in a wave, and an entire patch of meadow along the rail tracks started turning black, while a growing bubble of water flew next to the train.

"Threaten me, Avatar", the conductor spat with a chuckle, "that will make you look sane."

Korra growled angrily at him and suddenly her arm shot into the air and with it, the water next to the train. Only seconds later the water landed on the roof, making it sound like a very heavy rain. But the conductor still stood there, grinning, since he actually thought he had the upper hand.

That's when Asami turned to him and and started speaking with a condescending voice, as if she was talking to Tara: "You know pretty well who we are. You know Avatar Korra can kill you. You know I can get you fired. And you still think it's a good idea to tick us off instead of just doing your job?"

The man rolled his eyes when he opened the door to step on the small platform between the wagons: "Really? I'd rather lose my job then work for someone like you." And then he was gone, leaving both women hurt.

* * *

><p>When they had calmed down and walked back to there compartment, they heard Qiang talk, and curiosity got the better of them. What could he have to talk about with their child? They glimpsed through the door window and saw Tara resting with the back to the window on one of Asami's red jackets. She was cuddling with the fire ferret under one of Korra's ponchos. Her feet rested on Qiang's lap and he was stroking her shins absentmindedly while he talked.<p>

"...so then the old king said: 'No son of mine is going to be a landscaper!' And so the prince got fitted with a new armor and sword and learned metal bending to be a poli- I mean a knight", he said and thought for a moment.

"That's mean", Tara commented with half-lidded eyes.

"You think", he questioned, "it was a pretty wise king? And have you ever heard of a prince who was a landscaper?"

"No."

"See? Maybe it was a good decision after all", he explained amused, because Tara's eyes were now entirely closed, but she was still trying to fight the sleep.

There was a moment of silence, where he already assumed she was sleeping, when she asked very slurred: "Was there a princess?"

He calmly answered: "Yes, sure, there was a princess, and beautiful one at that. And her name was..." Korra and Asami had decided they should not listen to this without him knowing, so they opened the cabin door and entered silently, spooking him. "Asami?"

"Asami", Tara repeated questioningly, and opened one of her eyes to look at him. She did not even realized her parents were present.

"Yes. No", the man was clearly embarrassed at that point, looking from Korra to Asami with a flustered face, "okay, let's call her Asami for now. So the prince and Asami went to a soughing ball and danced an entire night. But the next morning she told him she was to be married to someone else."

"Another prince", Tara mumbled almost asleep, "evil."

Qiang looked at Korra for a moment, before he answered: "Well, no. No prince. More like another king. Or the captain of the kings guard. Or maybe both. Someone the poor prince was not fit to hold a candle to. But not evil, either. He was just luckier, he had met princess Asami before the prince." He looked at Tara, waiting for the next question, but none came. After some minutes it became evident: she was finally asleep.

Realizing who had listened to him talk he slowly turned to face the two grinning women with a face that got redder and hotter by the minute.

They only stared at each other for what felt like hours, until Asami chuckled and asked: "Did you know Korra was a real life princess?"

He looked sceptically at the Avatar, then simply answered: "She doesn't look like it. You sure? I thought her dad was an elected chief."

"He is, but my grandfather was the chief of the North, which is hereditary", Korra explained proudly, "my cousin is the current chief. I guess when she dies I'm somewhere in line for the throne."

All of them kept silent after that, but at least it was not as awkward as before.

"Can I ask", Qiang questioned after he had pondered for a while, "have you talked?"

"We're good", both women answered at the same time, and laughed when they realized that now they sounded as if they were hiding something.

He looked at Korra with fright when he questioned: "So, are you going to kill me?"

"If you give me a good enough reason, sure."

Asami punched her halfway into her sentence, then corrected: "No, she is not, because you didn't know." With a frown she told her girlfriend: "Now stop being mean."

"I think there's a rule against taking your ex's side against your spouse", Korra stated and pouted, while letting herself fall into her seat. Qiang looked afraid until Asami laughed, which made him relax. The Avatar just smirked at him: "No, really, it's fine. Keep your hands off of her and we'll be great friends. We'll even try to rein in the oogie."

"The oogie", he repeated confused.

Korra ginned toothily at him: "Yeah, that's the Southern Water Tribe word for 'love'."


	26. Come Back

Korra stretched when she stepped out of the train, which made Tara hold on tightly, since the child sat on her shoulders, with the fire ferret sitting on her mother's head, its tail hanging in front of her face.

The one of Korra's hands that was not holding her sea bag was held out for Asami, and she took it happily. Qiang followed on his own. They walked towards the exit, taking in the new environment eagerly.

"Where's mommy's statue", Tara questioned, which made Asami groan.

"Stop asking! I only build one!"

When they were at the level of the loco, they saw the conductor helping a woman in a low cut dress out of the wagon. A gust of wind pushed him, making his face fall directly onto her naked bosom. She hit him hard for that.

Qiang, Korra and Tara snickered, while Asami hit her girlfriend and scolded her: "Korra...!"

"Karma", the Avatar corrected with a grin that gave away that she had helped karma in the task.

When they stepped out of the station, they saw the entire magnificence that was the capital of Lu. It was not uncommon for capitals to be only villages with one street, which usually ended at the station. So this settlement was big in comparison: additionally to the main street there was one winding its way up the nearby mountain and one downhill lined with market carts.

Korra walked uphill without hesitation. It was a long walk, especially after sitting so much all day, and Asami was very glad she did not have to carry the child.

"Are we there yet", Qiang called out after falling back for a while, "walking uphill in this stupid uniform is exhausting."

"Shall I help you out", Korra questioned and turned around, walking backwards. She held up her right hand und bended Qiangs metal uniform into the air, making him yelp. Tara, still sitting on Korra's shoulders, squealed in glee and tried to move her arms in the same way her mother did, imagining she was bending the policeman into the air - since she knew all earthbending poses by heart this was no real problem for her.

Qiang floated behind them for a good portion of the way, to stubborn to plead for his release and to weak a metalbender to resist Korra's grip. She let him go only when she saw an overgrown cottage out of the corner of her eyes and needed to turn around and check her surroundings for where she was headed. The Avatar grinned when she recognized the building.

They entered the property of the cottage through a gate between high hedges, and only then they were able to make out a sign advertising a holiday flat. Korra knocked on the door with a force as if she wanted to knock it down.

A really old woman opened the door after a long wait. She was the prime example of a grandmother, with a kind face framed by white hair and calloused hands that had done her share of work. The dirty apron over her green clothes showed that she had cooked just moments prior.

"Oh! The nice Water Tribe girl", the old lady greeted enthusiastically and hugged Korra.

"And I brought my family", Korra added proudly and put Tara on the ground, ruffling her head.

"It's so nice to meet you", the old woman stated and greeted Asami and Qiang with a bow, then opened the door for them, "are you going to stay?"

"Can we have your apartment", Korra questioned, beaming with anticipation, and the woman nodded with a gentle smile.

"You know, I don't have that many guests anymore, ever since my husband died", she said and let them inside, "I'm just not able to tend to the garden all that much."

"Maybe we could help you out", Korra replied without thinking too much, but the lady waved her off anyways.

"Nonsense, you are on vacation, aren't you", the old woman said and went into the adjacent kitchen, to pull the pots off the stove. Then she retrieved a key ring out of one of the cupboards and returned to the corridor. She groaned when she kneeled in front of Tara, but then a warm smile spread to her face. She took her glasses out of her pockets and put them on, mustering the child: "Now let me take a good look at you. I'm grandma Saki, and who are you?"

"Katara", the child answered and looked to Asami for guidance.

"You're just as pretty as your mommy", Saki said and pinched Tara's cheek, then stood up to examine Asami and Qiang. Evidently she was trying to fit together what the relationship between the three adults was. None the wiser, she gave the keys to Korra.

"We'll only need fresh linen on the sofa, Tara will want to sleep with us anyways", Korra said, while playing with the keys in her hand.

Saki's eyebrows shot up at that, and she looked at the child and Asami, shaking her head: "No, that's no good. You and your lovely husband should have some time to yourself. We'll find another room for your friend and your daughter."

Korra looked dumbfounded at the old woman, and only when she saw Asami's expression she started to laugh. Tugging on some of her hair, she explained: "Uh... he's not my husband."

"Then you have no business having a child with him", Saki stated directly, crossing the arms in front of her chest and shaking her head in disgust.

"Tara's not his daughter", Korra agreed, but was reluctant to tell Saki the truth - after they had come out officially at that press conference, they had had their share of discrimination and she did not want to provoke anything, since honestly Saki sounded very conservative all of a sudden. Asami's facial expression told her she thought so, too.

"My daddy died", Tara explained, since she did not know how to wordlessly communicate like her parents, "my old mommy, too. Mommy's my new mommy. And..."

"I brought her back after the civil war in Chin", Korra quickly interrupted, before Tara could say something more. The old woman made an "oooh" sound in response, clearly embarrassed, but Korra gave her a warm smile: "And don't worry, a lot of people think she's taking after me. I think to outsiders we Water Tribers look similar." She smiled some more, then added: "Honestly, your kids look all the same to me, too."

Saki nodded with an amused smile, then her face became earnest in confusion: "I never catched what you do for a living. Do you need to travel that much? Or did you just marry rich?"

Korra looked at Asami helplessly. But before either could say something, Tara quibbed in: "Mommy's the Avatar."

A hearty laughter made them all turn to the old woman, when she kneeled down to the child with popping joints and told her grandmotherly: "You know, you remind me of my youngest daughter. She adored her daddy just like you do with your mommy. To her, he was the wisest king and the strongest knight and the Avatar himself, even if he fell asleep in the middle of reading her a bedtime story." Tara frowned at that, understandably feeling like she was not being taken seriously. "But if you are a fan of the Avatar, I heard she is in town, maybe you'll see her."

"Mommy's the Avatar", Tara insisted stubbornly and looked helplessly at her mother, who was grinning stupidly when Saki started to eye her suspiciously.

"I kinda am", Korra agreed and showed a flame in her hand, which made the old woman groan and hide her face behind her hands in embarrassment.

"Oh dear, I asked the Avatar to weed my garden", she mumbled, shaking her head.

Korra just laughed and walked the distance to put a hand on the woman's shoulder. "I'm your Avatar as well, don't worry. Also, I cheated and used earthbending."

"Well, Avatar Korra, it's an honor", Saki said and bowed so low her back cracked, "please stay in my humble home free of charge."

"Nah", Korra shook her head insistently, "and you're still getting the rent for the last time I stayed here." She looked over to Asami, who rolled her eyes when she got the money out to pay. It was so Korra to still be in debts to a nice old lady.

After Saki told Asami in a defeated tone of voice what she had to pay, the former turned to give Korra a weird look. When there came no explanation whatsoever, the old woman questioned: "So who are the lovely lady and the handsome young man you brought?"

"I'm Asami Sato, I own Future Industries", Asami said, seeing as Korra had a dumbfounded expression and was opening and closing her mouth without being able to speak, "and he is my bodyguard."

Saki's eyes widened and she bowed to Asami to show her respect, then she looked at Korra at if she was going to scold her: "So, what's next? Does he turn out to be King Wu?"

"No", the addressed man explained grinning widely, "but Korra just told me she was a princess to the Northern Water Tribes."

"Now you're just being silly", Saki said and shook her head.

* * *

><p>The holiday flat stretched over the entire second floor of the cottage. Saki explained that she had lived up there with her husband for years and they had rented out the rooms on the ground floor, but now her old bones could not climb the stairs like they used to, so they had swapped the flats.<p>

But it explained how well-appointed the rooms where. There was a bedroom with a big bed (not as big as Asami's, but still) and country-style furniture. The living room was spacious and had a kitchenette, a table with four chairs and a sofa bed. Of course, there was a bathroom just around the corner, and there some more rooms, that were locked, and Saki explained these were her late husband's study and the childrens' rooms. The old woman had not been able to clear the rooms, and used to go there when she wanted to feel connected to her family.

"Katara", Saki joyously exclaimed when they had finished the tour through the house, "I just made sweet steamed buns, do you want some?"

Tara nodded vigorously and ran to the old lady, taking her hand. When her parents called her name, she remembered her manners: "Thank you, grandma Saki!" The old woman just laughed and led her away.

"Did you forget to pack my uniform", Korra questioned some minutes later, unpacking her sea bag on the ground around her.

Asami, who did the same, but was putting everything where it belonged, did not even look at her when she answered: "No, I packed it."

"The trousers are missing", Korra complained and shook out the bag, "also, the Fire Nation clothes."

"You just have to open your eyes", Asami answered with a laugh, and walked over to help her girlfriend search. After taking a look through the pile of clothes on the floor, she frowned. "You must have taken them out earlier."

"No, I just put my washbag in", Korra corrected with an irked expression, "I didn't take anything out."

"Then where are they", Asami was annoyed as well, since the train ride had been exhausting for her, too.

Korra stood up and looked angrily at her girlfriend: "You tell me! I need my uniform now! And I'll probably need my Fire Nation clothes for my visit to Yi."

Asami sighed while she folded Korra's clothes and put them into the wardrobe. "Just ask for a new uniform, and you can have my clothing."

A frustrated groan was the only response she got for a while, until the Avatar decided she had to say something more to the topic: "I can't wear a skirt! And that wouldn't be necessary anyways if you had just packed my stuff like I asked you to."

"I think I'll be downstairs, eating some buns", Qiang mumbled behind them, but nobody took any notice of him slithering out the room.

Asami put the empty sea bag in Korra's hands and fixated her with her eyes: "I _did_ pack your uniform. And even if I didn't: You're 25 years old and I am not your mom."

"Oh, that again", Korra laughed dryly at the nonexisting joke, "stop pretending I'm a child."

"Then stop acting like one", Asami countered, her voice slowly rising.

Now Korra was angry. "I'm the freaking Avatar", she yelled at her girlfriend, "excuse me that I'm a bit childish whenever I'm not busy saving the darn world!"

Asami took a deep breath and got herself to calm down for a bit, then mumbled: "Korra, please, stop acting…"

"...like a child", Korra finished what she thought was going to follow; she had a defiant facial expression, "sure, no problem." She took the jacket of her military uniform and turned to leave the room. "I'm at the United Forces camp, trying to prevent the war. You have fun with your ex-boyfriend." And with that, she exited the room.

Asami was left to stare at the door. She wondered if Korra was just exhausted and agitated or actually jealous. She hoped for the former, since there was no way they could get rid of her bodyguard, and if Korra felt back to the extremely jealous behavior she had shown in the past, the stay in Lu would certainly be no vacation.


	27. What Was Missing

Asami had calmed when she climbed down the stairs to look for her daughter. When she passed the kitchen Saki called for her and gave her a sweet bun. The old lady had resumed cooking, and made sure Asami knew they could always eat with her.

After a short talk she stepped out of the house - Qiang leaned against the building and watched Tara. The little girl was exploring the garden, a steamed bun in one hand, and a ball of water in her other hand.

"You're fighting an awful lot", Qiang commented and grinned a bit when he saw Asami glare at him.

"A lot has happened the last few days", she told him angrily, but was interrupted before she could explain it.

"Were you fighting because of me", Tara questioned with honest worry, which made Asami jump since she had not seen the child coming over.

"No, we weren't", the mother said and kneeled down to hug the girl, "but even if we were, it's just because we love you so much and only want what's best for you."

Tara looked at her and nodded slowly, then the worry took over again: "What were you fighting about?"

With a sigh her mother stood up and crossed her arms without realizing it: "Your mother lost some of her clothes." The guilty expression on Tara's face made Asami flop down to the ground again. "Did _you_ have anything to do with that?"

"Mommy said she didn't like red", Tara said, looking at her feet nervously, "so I took the red clothes out." Asami massaged the bridge of his nose to keep from doing something rash. "But I put more blue clothes in", Tara quickly explained, "mommy likes blue?"

"Sweetie, these clothes were important", the mother finally explained, "and mommy asked me to pack them, and now she thinks I forgot."

Tara made a "oh" sound and looked away, tears were forming in her eyes: "So you _did _fight because of me?"

Asami hated to admit it, but they did. But there was no way she would tell Tara that. "What do you say we'll tell mommy the truth once she comes home", she asked the girl and smiled warmly.

"Is she going to hate me", it was heartbreaking that Tara even thought this was possible. Where did she get the idea?

"No, Korra will never, ever hate you. Ever", Asami reassured, then grinned, "I don't think she is able to hate anyone. She only has different nuances of love to give."

The child frowned, not knowing what a nuance was. But it sounded all good to her either way. "I'm sorry", she finally said and looked at the floor.

"I'm just glad you told me", Asami said, hugging the child, "don't worry, everything is going to be fine when she gets home."

"Where is she anyways", Qiang questioned behind them, spooking Asami. She still had not gotten used to him being around everywhere and butting in whenever he felt the need.

"She's over at the military base", Asami told him, and finally started to eat her sweet bun - and it was delicious. Tara looked up at her and remembered she had her treat still in her hand, and started to eat as well. On the third bite she confused her hands, splashing the water bubble in her face. It did not hinder her from eating the rest of the bun.

"So she's getting her orders", Qiang questioned, watching Tara with amusement.

"I've yet to see her take orders from anyone", Asami answered and looked around the garden, just to not look at him, "hey Tara, what do you say we visit the hot springs mommy told us about?" Tara cheered and in the process spitted some of her food on her mother.

"Are you trying to make my job really good", Qiang questioned, pushing himself from the wall he was leaning against, "or really bad? You know, I'm either going to see you naked or I'm not going to be able to do my job."

"Maybe not everything's about you", Asami answered angrily, "you can stay here." He shook his head, because he was not going to go against Beifong. "Or come with us, and stay on the men's side. I'll call you if I need a prince in a shining armor." She walked into the house again to fetch what she needed.

Qiang followed her, grinning widely: "Maybe these are mixed baths?" Asami huffed at that.

"I think Korra would have told me", she answered simply, and in all honesty she thought her girlfriend would not have visited the hot springs if they had no gender segregation - missing the first hand experience, the Avatar had always been a bit grossed out by naked men. Which was probably why she and Mako did not work out in the first place.

"So Korra was there on her own, ogling women", Qiang teased, already standing at the door with his bag, while Asami still searched for something.

"Yes", she simply confirmed when she found the item and put it in her bag, walking past him out of the flat. He followed, and Asami took Tara with her when they started to walk uphill again.

"You're weird", he said, at any point in time at least six steps behind the woman.

Asami used the time to explain to Tara how she should behave, including where to put her clothes, how to clean herself thoroughly before even going near the hot springs and so on. Qiang should have listened at that point, because he later stepped on some toes on his first visit to a traditional onsen. His face stayed red until after supper.

Korra took her time getting back to her family. Asami would have loved to put Tara to bed, but sadly, the child was not able to calm down before she had told the truth about the missing clothes. The sun was already down and Asami had just finished reading the second story, while the two sat on the sofa, when they heard someone enter the house. Seconds later, Korra entered the room.

She was wearing her usual blue clothes, with her military jacket draped loosely over her shoulders. Her official statement why she even needed the jacket was because the soldiers were too stupid to remember what the Avatar looked like, and so she needed the stripes on her clothes to show them that she was in fact a commanding officer. Since she refused to wear the uniform of any country (even the United Republic of Nations), she made a point in dressing as sloppily as possible, while still having the insignia of an honorary general.

One of Korra's hands held another army uniform, which she promptly threw on a chair, the other held three steamed buns she had fetched from the kitchen.

"Hey you guys", she greeted and walked over to Asami, producing a flower from who knows where - it was her way of saying she was sorry and she had acted dumb - and Asami recognized it with a smile and a kiss. "Why's Tara still up?"

"Because I did something bad", Tara answered, looking away. Then she pushed Asami, who was sitting next to her on the sofa, while Korra ate the first of her buns.

"She replaced your red clothes with blue ones", Asami said simply, and Korra laughed at that.

Squatting in front of the child, the Avatar said: "You really shocked me, Tara. For a moment there I thought Asami was not perfect." She breathed out in relief. "Thanks for telling me." She kissed the girl's forehead, and bid her a goodnight, after which Asami picked her up and brought her into the bedroom.

Korra had just eaten all her steamed buns when she returned. "The airbabies say hello", she told her girlfriend, and looked confused at what their bodyguard was doing. He seemingly tried to read, as was evident by the book in front of him, but he tried to do it without looking at the paper, and instead stared into the air.

"You should have brought them", Asami answered and filled a vase with some water, then put the flower into it.

"The three of them will visit us tomorrow", Korra stated, folding her jacket, "after we return from Yi." It was no surprise to anyone that Rohan was not present. In an amazing turn of events he had turned out to be a waterbender like his grandmother. And since the Harmonic Convergence had created airbenders that were not Air Nomads, his father had decided to do something revolutionary: Rohan was the first Air Nomad who was no airbender, an honor his aunt Kya never knew.

"So what is this war about", Asami questioned and seated herself next to the Avatar.

Korra scratched the back of her neck for some moments, then tried to summarize it: "It's about the mountain." She pointed to the mountain that was clearly visible from the window. "Both Yi and Xun have a lot of mines drilled into it from their side of the mountain. So now some parts of the mines caved in because their tunnels were too close to one another and someone had used dynamite. They realized both of them had started to mine on the wrong side of the border, but can't figure out how the border should even run underground. Since both states live off mining, they are getting violent because they see their base of life slipping away."

Asami frowned at the explanation: "But if it's about the mountain, are you sure we are safe here? Lu shares the same mountain with them."

The Avatar just laughed, and laid an arm around her girlfriend's shoulder, pulling her close and kissing her temple. "Yes, I am", she told her confidently, "Lu has no heavy industry, the people here live off agriculture and tourism." Asami nodded at this and looked sceptically at the mountain. They sat there in silence until Korra rather suddenly stretched and yawned. "You know what? I'm spent. You wanna go to bed?"

* * *

><p>The Avatar had a plan. Asami had figured that out pretty quickly, since it was still a bit early to go to bed. It was no new plan, though, since the two of them had done something like that often while living at Air Temple Island. Since Korra was always the center of attention, when she went to bed, so did the airbender children and most of the time Bolin.<p>

So after leaving Qiang to himself, he was soon so bored that he rather went to bed instead of sitting in front of his (evidently rather boring) book. And after the policeman had drifted off to sleep, as well as Tara, the women snuck out of the house.

But in contrast to when they were teenagers, they were now not striving for some forbidden fruit, like probending or alcohol or meat, but for some minutes just for themselves. With Tara and Korra's parents and the bodyguards and everything that was going on in their lives, they did not have that much time for one another - even their bed was usually occupied by the child.

And so Korra took Asami to a mowed meadow maybe five minutes from their pension. She spread out her pelt on the ground, and both sat down, cuddled and just talked, while watching the stars. They talked about how jealous Korra was because of Qiang, about who else Asami dated that might come back into their life, about Korra's first crush and the related story of how she got slapped in the face by a girl for the first time.

In the end, when both were empty of things that needed to be said, they told each other how much they loved the other one, and when that got boring, they started kissing in a newfound passion, and soon they lost all restrictions, because for the first time in forever, no one interrupted them.

When they finally walked home, they acted very much like newlyweds. They held hands, they flirted, they let their noses kiss and they giggled more than Tara on her best days. It was exactly the behaviour that had made Korra nauseous when Mako and Asami had been doing it. Now she smiled so widely that Asami feared the corners of her mouth might rip.

"That was a great idea", Asami told her girlfriend when they stood in front of the house, "I really enjoyed the evening."

"I could tell", Korra answered with her eyebrows wiggling, which Asami could not see (but she still knew it was happening), since the almost full moon was hidden behind the building. After fiddling with the keys for a while, the Avatar lit her left hand, but got soon distracted by the beautiful face in front of her. "I'm really the luckiest person ever", she said and pecked Asami's lips, then proceeded to open the door.

Once inside, they sneaked towards their room, but stopped when they saw the lights in the living room. Korra was the one to slowly open the door and peek into the room.

"Korra! Thank the spirits you're back! We have to prevent a massacre!"


	28. Massacre

**Author's note:** To address the Air Acolytes vs. Air Nomads issue - maybe I'm translating the word incorrectly, but I always thought that acolytes where just assistants, while the nomads where the actual airbenders who did the hard work travelling around the world and helping people. That's why Tenzin was still so worried for the Air Nomads's future, even though there were already a bunch of Air Acolytes scattered around different temples. I don't really know if that's correct, but if the need ever arises, I'll stick with that definition for this story. In the meantime you might correct me, I'm always happy to learn. :)

* * *

><p>Qiang was awoken roughly when someone barged into the dark living room, but his training was not in vain - he jumped out of bed and took a fighting stance before his brain was able to comprehend what was going on.<p>

"Halt! Republic City Police Department", he bellowed at the intruders. He had to search for his police uniform, but when he found it on the floor, it was easy for him to make cables whirl out from it - two of the shadows jumped into different directions, but he got the legs of the third bound, making them fall over.

Suddenly he felt a blow to his face, making him thrust into the wall. He needed a moment to comprehend that it was just air that was hitting him, but by then he had jumped towards the smaller shadow and tried to punch him - but the person was just too quick.

He felt rather then saw the other intruder sneaking up on him, and moved out of the way, making the two of them tumble into each other. With a quick hand gesture he willed more metal cables at them, binding them.

"What are you doing", Saki's voice questioned, and at the same time the lights were turned on, effectively blinding him. When Qiang's eyes adjusted to the light, he looked over at the three forms he had been fighting - these were airbenders, children nonetheless.

"Since when do airbenders raid vacation flats", he questioned in shock.

"We are not raiding", the oldest of the three stated, while wiggling free from the metal, "we're friend's of Korra and Asami. I'm Jinora, and they are Meelo and Ikki." Qiang furrowed his brows. "And you are?"

"Their bodyguard", he answered truthfully, but the boy named Meelo laughed loudly at that.

"Yeah, as if the Avatar needed a bodyguard!"

The kids had removed their bonds and were now standing up, looking Qiang over with visible distaste. "Tell that to Chief Beifong", he just stated.

They were rather suddenly jerked out of their conversation when they heard someone cry - it was Tara, who had been awoken by the racket only to find her parents gone. Now she stood in the door to the bedroom and was searching for them in tears.

When Qiang saw that the bed behind the child was empty, his face felt and he rushed over to look into the room - of course there was nobody hiding in there either. "Where are Asami and Korra", he asked in panic, shaking the child, which did nothing to calm her, on the contrary.

"What are you doing", Saki interrupted and went over to take care of the child. She kneeled in front of Tara and stroked her arm, then hugged her tightly. It took a long time to calm the girl.

"So where are Asami and Korra", Qiang repeated his earlier question, while Jinora joined in with a stressed out voice.

Tara just sniffled in response: "They're not in bed."

Qiang was burying his head into his hands in frustration, which was why he did not saw Meelo jump over to him and shove him harshly.

"I thought you were their bodyguard? Now where's Korra?"

"I don't know", he shouted at the boy in frustration, "they must have sneaked out on me!"

Jinora groaned: "It's like Air Temple Island all over again!"

"Jinora, can't you make the spirit telephone thingy", Ikki questioned, and the oldest airbender nodded, then sat herself down to meditate.

She had the eyes closed for maybe five seconds when she opened them again. "She's already in this building."

That was the exact moment Korra slid open the door and poked her head in with a very confused expression.

"Korra! Thank the spirits you're back! We have to prevent a massacre!" It was Meelo's energetic voice. He had used a gust of air to jump back to the door, before Korra and Asami entered.

"Where the heck have you been", Qiang wanted to know, stomping over to them angrily.

The women did not answer directly, but instead opted to blush simultaneously. "Stargazing", Korra finally answered feebly, even though they looked nothing like _stargazing_. Their hair was a mess and full of grass blades, their clothes had grassy stains everywhere, especially the pelt around her hip. And while it was not immediately noticeable, the fact that Korra absentmindedly wiped her mouth with her sleeve multiple times drew attention to the fact that her lips were a bit redder than usually, almost to the point where you could tell it was the same color as Asami's lipstick. But it was still nothing compared to the redness of their cheeks.

"We don't have time for this", Jinora stated and took the wrist of Korra's hand which was not holding on to her girlfriend. The Avatar almost whimpered when she was pulled away from Asami.

"One moment", she pleaded, wriggling her hand from Jinora's grip just to cup both of Asami's cheeks. "I'll be right back", she promised, "love you." They kissed a final time before Korra followed the airbenders outside.

The air bison was parked in the garden behind the house, and Korra was honestly surprised she did not see him when they had arrived earlier.

"Pepper, yip-yip", Jinora called to the bison, and they started to fly.

"So what massacre", Korra questioned while watching the cottage fade away with a longing expression.

"Can I ask something first", Ikki questioned, bobbing up and down next to the Avatar, and without waiting for an answer, she continued: "Why are you wearing a red shirt? I thought you hated red! And why was Asami wearing a blue one? It didn't match the rest of her outfit."

They say all cat deers are gray at night, but Korra was pretty sure her face glowed so much she could be used as a beacon at that point. The moon did nothing to hide her embarrassment.

"So what massacre", she repeated after waiting for a moment that clearly showed she was not going to answer the last question.

"There are reports that some of the men of Yi will take matters in their own hands and just blow the entire mines of Xun up", Jinora explained, furrowing her brows, "if we know, then Xun will know, too, and they will send their men against them. If they get to fight just now the peace negotiations might get really tough."

Korra groaned at that. For some reason, she was angry at the people of Yi for destroying her nice evening, and she found herself thinking that this behavior was just typical for the hotheaded firebenders of the Fire Nation colonies.

"Is the United Force going to attend the party, too", the Avatar questioned, trying to lift everyone's spirits by being her usual carefree self.

"Of course they are", Meelo answered, "but we thought we'll get there first with Pepper." The boy saluted. "Who needs an army when they have the Avatar and the best airbender in the world." He looked over at his sisters. "And these two ladies."

Korra laughed and shifted so she was able to see where they were going, anxious to get the entire ordeal over with.

When they arrived in front of the mines of Xun, the fight was already over, and there was no sign of life anywhere. The losers had already fled and the winners had taken their casualties home to be treated. Korra's heart dropped when she realized the dark shadows on the ground where no stones, but men. She tried to fight the thought as long as possible, but it came back with a bigger force each time: if she had not been stargazing with Asami, these men might still be alive.

When the burden became too much, she needed to do something - she jumped from the bison, realizing a moment too late that she still was not able to airbend properly. Luckily, she had enough time to prepare for the landing, but a ripping pain in her left foot told her she might have sprained her ankle. Or even worse. But, she mused to herself, when it came to injuries from jumping from flying animals, a sprained ankle was one of the better outcomes.

She ran towards the nearest man and checked his pulse and breath, and her heart clenched painfully when she found nothing. She sat there for what felt like hours, and only dimly saw the bison land some feet away. Without really thinking, Korra laid her hand on the man's stomach and tried to tap into his energy - to her utter surprise there was still some left. And with the energy that she felt still circling in his body, she felt a very faint pulse and breath, just way too shallow for her calloused hands to feel.

Experienced in this kind of thing, she started administering CPR, stopping only to heal him when the children brought her some water. When he was stable enough so that Meelo was able to feel his breath, she moved to the next person, and the circle started over.

The airbender helped wherever possible, and started to carry the injured men to the air bison so they would not need to run back and forth so much. When they arrived at the ninth person, they saw Korra crying over the still form of a woman. The lying person was dripping wet.

"Is she...", Ikki started when she came over to bring new water.

"I can't help her anymore", Korra whispered, her breath was hitching.

"Don't worry", the girl told her, laying a hand on her friends shoulder in an encouraging gesture, "you saved a lot of them already. And there are still some more that need you!"

"No", Korra's head jumped up to look at the young airbender, her face was disfigured by pain, "it's gone. My bending is gone. I can't heal them anymore."

Her exclamation was loud enough that it echoed back from the mountains. The airbenders, including Jinora and Meelo, who were treating the other men, looked at her in shock, neither of them had any idea that her bending had been irregular. "Did you try the Avatar state", Meelo yelled over to them.

"It doesn't work", Korra mumbled, way too quiet for him to hear, while she stood up and wiped her face with her sleeve, "it never works." Even more faint were her next words: "I'm useless."

Neither of them talked much until reinforcements arrived. At the end of the night, they brought seven men back to the army camp to be treated - and four to be buried.


	29. Tea Party

While still half asleep, Asami could hear the faint sound of water, and it made her want to go to the toilet. Instead, she pressed her eyes shut tightly and tried to go back to sleep, relishing the warm stomach she was sleeping on.

Her eyes popped open when she could not remember when Korra had come home last night, only to find out she was not lying on her girlfriend at all. She jerked up and watched Qiang's sleeping form as if he was about to attack her.

After some seconds, her brain started to remember the previous night. After Korra and the airbender children had left, Tara had a hard time calming down, feeling as if Asami would leave her again. So when the child asked the one person who had stayed with her, Qiang, to tell her something more about the "landscraper prince", Asami had no real choice as to sit with her on his sofa bed, stroking her hair until she was finally asleep. Evidently, Asami had drifted off somewhere in the process.

She watched Tara and Qiang sleep for a while, trying to imagine Korra's reaction when she found out she had been sleeping in her ex-boyfriends bed, on her ex-boyfriend's stomach. Her thoughts were interrupted when she realized the sound of water came from the bathroom.

Seeing as the person showering could only be Korra, she entered the room without knocking. She saw Korra sitting naked in the shower, her knees pulled up so she could rest her face on them. The Avatar was lazily moving her hands around - it vaguely looked like bending, but without the actual element moving part. Asami needed some moments to grasp what was happening. When she saw Korra's blue lips she held her hand in the stream of water - it was icy cold, even for a resident of the South Pole. She turned the water off without thinking.

"Korra", she questioned, grabbing the other woman's towel to warm her, "is everything okay?"

Korra did not answer, but opted for ignoring her altogether. That was nothing Asami could tolerate, of course, so she pulled her girlfriend onto her feet.

"Could you bend the water off of you", she questioned, holding the towel out. She got a miserable facial expression in return, and before she could react, Korra started to cry.

Asami understood and wrapped the cloth around the naked form of her girlfriend, rubbing her cold body so she would get warm again. It was so different from what they had the night before while stargazing, and it made her want to weep as well.

"I'm going to get you fresh clothes", Asami stated when she realized that what Korra had been wearing the day before laid scattered around the room, and was full of dirt, grass and blood. She knew that included her favorite shirt, but that was not important at the moment.

As quietly as possible she sneaked to get the clothes, and came back with two outfits. The Avatar had evidently not moved a muscle while she was gone, but had at least stopped crying, probably due to lack of fluid in her body. "Where are you going today", Asami questioned, while rubbing her girlfriends arms again, "do you need to look like Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom?"

There was a long pause, where Asami thought Korra might not have heard her, when the Avatar simply stated: "Fire."

So it was the rose military trousers and another one of Asami's shirts. But first Asami needed to get Korra's bindings in place, something she had always struggled with. It did not help that Korra had at all times been able to bind her breasts herself, but was now just staring into nothingness. Asami had just moved down to the lower bindings, when she heard an angry curse behind her.

"Ugh! Can't you guys close the door", Qiang ranted, "or even lock it." Asami turned around, but she did not see her bodyguard, even though the bathroom door was still open, as he had stated.

He still stood in the vicinity, as was evident from the direction his voice came from, when he babbled: "Just get a room. Oh, you already have. So why the heck would you…"

He was interrupted by Asami's calm voice: "Korra's broken." She hated herself for using that word, but she could not think of a better one. Evidently her girlfriend was not hurt or sick in the common sense, so maybe "broken" was the word best describing the Avatar.

"Oh", Qiang mumbled in front of the room, "sorry." He forced a nervous chuckle and sounded really embarrassed when he tried to deflect the situation using humor: "So… the Avatar is an outie?" It took her some moments to realize he was referring to the Avatar's navel.

"Just go", Asami told him coolly, and for a moment she believed him to be gone, until he spoke again.

"The thing is: I really need to pee right now."

Asami groaned at that, but at least she had finished dressing Korra by now. She took the Avatar's cold hands into hers and kissed her forehead in a loving gesture, then pulled her out of the bathroom and into the living room, where Tara still slept on the sofa.

The moment Korra saw her daughter, her demeanour changed radically and she furrowed her brows into a determined expression. Asami could read her face well: The Avatar had just decided she was going to get over whatever it was that was troubling her for the child's sake.

While she had offered no resistance while being dragged around the flat, now she stood firm and tugged at Asami, stating: "Four people are dead because of me."

The engineer was shocked: "Did you… did you kill them?"

Korra nodded and shuddered at the same time, maybe because of the cold shower. "I should've healed them. But my bending is gone."

Asami had taken her to one of the chairs and started to make tea, now she looked confused: "All elements again?" Korra nodded wretchedly and let herself fall on the table.

When she talked, she sounded like she was going to cry again at any given moment: "We were too late to prevent the fight. There were a dozen bodies. I healed some, then my bending stopped working. Four of them didn't make it."

Asami put a cup of tea in front of the Avatar, then sat next to her with her own cup, draping an arm over her shoulder. "Your bending is fluctuating so much lately."

"You do realize it's because of her conscience", Qiang stated behind them and sat himself at the table, angrily glancing at Asami for not getting any tea.

"You think she has something to feel remorse over", Asami questioned, giving him the evil eye.

"Sure", he said, then stood up to make himself tea, if no one else was going to do it, "if you weren't 'stargazing' or whatever you crazy kids called it, then she might have been on the battlefield in time." He prepared a cup and turned, leaning against the counter. "And from what I know from what happened with your kid, she roughed up two triads that had nothing to do with the abduction, and almost killed two dudes even though Tara was already safe at that point."

Asami glared at him in a way that made him believe she was going to kill him if he did not stop talking: "Is it part of your job to pry into everybody's affairs?"

"I'm police", he stated with a chuckle, while brewing his tea, "so I'd say: yes." He sat down at the table across from Korra, who had her face still on the table surface and her hands on her head.

"I think he might be right", the Avatar told the table after a while.

Asami was instantly hugging her tighter, shaking her head: "No Korra, you are trying your very best, you shouldn't blame yourself, stuff like that just happens."

Another long pause. "But I do", Korra lifted her head and looked at Asami miserably, "I get innocent people hurt. A lot."

Asami opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to speak but failing. The phrase "you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs" came to her mind, but it sounded awfully harsh even in her own head, now that people had died. Neither of them believed it was okay to hurt a few people if you could save more people, so Asami had no real leverage for opposing Korra's guilty conscience.

The problem was: Korra had hoped Asami could find a good argument to make her believe she had done the right thing, but when minutes slipped by without her saying something, the Avatar felt even worse because now she thought she was a horrible person.

"Korra, you said the fight was already over when you arrived", Asami finally recapitulated, feeling awful herself, "so you did not hurt them, other people did."

"I couldn't heal them", Korra repeated while she turned her face so her forehead was lying on the smooth surface of the table again.

"So", the older woman questioned, stroking the Avatar's back, "Qiang didn't heal them, either. In fact, he never healed anyone in his life."

Her bodyguard looked angrily at her: "What did I ever do to you? Don't forget you can't heal, either. You can't even bend at all."

Asami suppressed a huff, and forced a smile, because as a businesswoman she knew Korra could hear it: "That's right, I can't heal, either. And I believe even Avatar Aang couldn't heal." She was actually going out on a limb here, since she really did not know much about other Avatars.

Evidently her words helped, since Korra's head rose to face her girlfriend. "You're right", she said with astonishment, "why did he never learn healing? He was even married to Master Katara."

Sadly, Asami did not know the answer to that, but someone else did. "Because it was not his job", Qiang stated smugly , and got ugly glances for that, "what? Did no one ever tell you the _world _needs you?" Asami breathed out loudly at that, because she could distinctly remember telling the Avatar exactly that, maybe once, or twice, or a million times. "So you helping old ladies weed their gardens or healing some random soldiers is a nice touch, but it's just not what you do."

Both women frowned at that, but their expressions relaxed almost simultaneously when they realized he had a point. Asami felt Korra turning to her with a blank face. "I think he is right", the engineer answered the question that was not yet raised. The Avatar sighed in return, and now started to drink her tea.

They sat some moments in silence, when they heard Tara stirr. When the kid's eye flew open she exclaimed her first words: "Bending!" And without even looking into their direction, she ran to the bedroom, where her figure slumped when she realized it was empty.

"Sweetie, over here", Asami called for the child, and Tara turned around, her eye's suddenly glazing over with happiness.

"Mommy! Bending", she yelled and ran back to her parents, climbing on Korra's lap and hugging her tightly. "We're bending today, right", she questioned, and when her mommy did not answer quickly enough, repeated, "right, mommy? Right?"

That was probably the first time Korra realized how important their exercises were to the child, and she felt awful for skipping them whenever she lost her bending.

"Yes, go change your clothes and we'll go", Korra said and cracked a small smile, but it was honest at least.

Tara threw her hands into the air euphorically, then turned to Asami: "And you're coming, too." And then to Qiang. "And Qi, too." Then she jumped from Korra's lap and ran back into the bedroom, stripping naked in the process to change as quickly as possibly.

* * *

><p>"No, Qi, you're doing it wrong."<p>

Asami could not help but smile at Tara. When the four of them had walked down the stairs, a sharp pain had reminded Korra that she had sprained her ankle the night before. Now the Avatar sat in the garden of the cottage and was getting her foot bandaged, while the other two had opted to start the training on their own. Evidently, Qiang was not very good at it. Even worse was that they had started with earthbending.

"I'm doing exactly what you are doing", the bodyguard complained, frowning at the child.

"No, you're a sitting turtleduck", Tara said stubbornly and put her foot down.

Asami had finished bandaging the foot and was now holding Korra down by her shins. "Who of them is right", she whispered quietly, pointing with her head at the two fighting persons.

The Avatar shrugged, but her face showed at least a glint of proud when she answered: "Tara, of course." That made her girlfriend grin proudly when she stood up and helped Korra onto her feet.

"You are not even a earthbender, you're just a waterbender", Qiang told the child defiantly and pouted, but the moment he saw Korra limb over his face got pale and he looked frightened, "I… we…were just..."

When the Avatar was next to him, she punched him lightly into the side of the hip, forcing him to take a slightly different stance.

"Yes", Tara cheered and started to bob up and down, "now bend!" Qiang did as he was told, and bended a patch of grass into the air, staring at it in surprise.

When he let it down, he looked shocked at the child. "How did I", he started, then decided that maybe a four year old was the wrong person to ask, and turned to Korra, "why was it so easy to bend that many earth?"

"Because you were a sitting turtleduck", Korra repeated without a smile, "your center of gravity was all wrong."

The man blinked at the Avatar some times, then turned to the child. With the hand gesture of a student he bowed down, and with a straight face, said: "Sifu Katara, please teach me more."

"What's a sifu", Tara asked with a frown.

"A teacher", Asami told her, and by the time she and Korra had positioned herself to start the actual exercise. After that, all four of them trained quietly and in unison (with Korra skipping the footwork, of course), but Tara's proud facial expression never left the child.


	30. Yi

"Do you really need to go", Asami questioned after training and breakfast, and not for the first time this day. Korra nodded, not for the first time either.

The thing was: Asami had all reason to be concerned. Korra could not bend, and with her bandaged ankle she was not able to fight; much worse still, now she even limbed when she walked. Furthermore, the Avatar had not slept the entire last night, and she appeared rather depressive as well, even though it seemed that she rationally understood that her remorse was not only unnecessary, but dangerous.

"Today nothing bad is going to happen", Korra promised, "we'll fly to Yi, talk with them, and fly back."

"I could come with you", Asami offered, but the Avatar shook her head with a small smile.

"You're not going into a war zone, and neither is Tara", the Water Triber reiterated something her girlfriend had decided, earning a defiant facial expression.

"We can leave Tara with her student", she joked, but got interrupted by her bodyguard.

"Sami, you don't get that whole 'bodyguard' thing, do you? I need to stay with _you_."

"Stop calling her that", Korra snapped at him, and when she saw the facial expressions of everyone, started tugging on a strand of hair. "Uhm, sorry", she mumbled after some moments and looked away with a sigh. "Well, I'll be back soon", she told everyone, and hugged both Asami and Tara, and then left them to themselves.

* * *

><p>For the first time in her life Korra thought she might have a fear of heights when she sat on top of Pepper's head flying over to Yi. She was thankful that Jinora's flying bison even let her ride him, but after they had lifted off she realized how terrifying it was to sit on a animal hundreds of feet in the air with no bending to keep her from smashing into the ground when she fell off.<p>

"Blue? I need you to heal my left foot later", she told one of the three soldiers that sat on the saddle of the bison. Since the airbending children had not slept the previous night, she had decided to take someone else for her protection with her, so that Tenzin's kids could rest. Sadly she had already forgotten the names of the two men and one woman, so she decided to call them by the color of the band around their upper arms.

Blue, of course, was a waterbender, and even though she was not white, she was certainly not as dark skinned as Korra. The pale firebender and earthbender had a red and green band, respectively. Korra's uniform jacket, which she had carelessly thrown on the saddle when they had started flying, had a multicolored strip of yellow, red, blue and green, and the little rainbow signalizing she was the Avatar was the only thing she liked about her military clothes.

Pepper's groan made her look down in confusion, and she almost got a heart attack when someone touched her from behind. Turning around she saw Blue, who flopped down next to her.

"Later", Korra screamed at her, suddenly very afraid, "get back on the saddle!" Blue grinned, but the Avatar was afraid in her behalf. Somewhere along the line she had found out that women who opted to go to the military tended to be more fearless than every man, to the point they looked almost suicidal. Blue was no exception.

"We have time now", the soldier yelled over the wind, "just give me your foot."

Korra sighed and carefully moved around so Blue could reach her ankle, unbandage it, and start healing. The warm feeling actually made her kind of woozy, and if it were not for her hammering heart she might have drifted off.

"How do you do it", Korra questioned while fixating the city of Yi, "how are you not afraid of falling down?"

Blue laughed at that: "I think the Avatar wouldn't allow her soldiers to splat on the ground like that, now wouldn't she?" Korra could not answer. She had talked to General Iroh about whether she should tell her bodyguards she was unable to bend, but he had ordered her to keep quiet to not compromise the morale of the troops. "Couldn't you heal yourself, anyways?"

Korra looked shocked at the question. She might have had her orders to keep silent, but that did not mean she was going to lie. "You know", she started slowly, trying to form words to distract the soldier, "just this morning we realized Avatar Aang never learned how to heal. Weird, isn't it?"

"Not really", Blue answered with a smirk, "he was a man. Men don't heal."

"That's just not true", Korra answered without thinking, and was now pondering if she had ever seen a man heal somebody. It was really disappointing that no one came to mind. "So the last Avatar that might have known how to heal was Avatar Kyoshi", she mumbled.

"No, Avatar Kyoshi was from a nonbender family", Blue exclaimed, laughing, "she didn't even know she could bend until they told her she was the Avatar when she was 16. She had a hard time learning the elements, much less mastering them, so she never really learned the sophisticated bending arts. That's why she always prefered hand-to-hand combat… or in her case, hand-to-fan."

Korra looked over to the other woman with visible scepticism: "So I get it you're a fan of her?"

"You gotta love a strong woman, don't you", Blue answered with a bright grin.

A small smile appeared on Korra's lips, as she looked back to the approaching city: "You're alright, Blue."

"Thanks, Avatar Rainbow."

Korra glanced over at the other woman, then smugly stated: "You can call me Rainbow."

* * *

><p>"Avatar Korra, what a pleasure to meet you!" Even the greeting of the mayor of Yi sounded slimey, and Korra had a hard time not showing disgust when she jumped off Pepper with a freshly healed foot and bowed to him.<p>

"Mayor Oyabun, the honor is mine", she recited.

The mayor looked at the three soldiers behind Korra and his eyebrows rose: "I thought you were going to bring the airbenders?" The man looked offended that she had brought some random soldiers with her.

The Avatar was getting furious with him, but still managed to stay calm: "You might remember that your men attacked Xun last night, so the airbenders are a bit indisposed."

"Just follow me", he spat and walked the distance to his house.

Korra was amazed at what she saw in Yi. Of course, she had seen it from the air moments prior, but now from the ground everything looked even bigger. As with many cities, Yi had only a few residential houses lined in a single street leading towards the station. But on the other side of the tracks, where the mountain started with its mines, there were giant factory buildings, all connected to the rail system. It was really hard to believe that the few houses held all the workers necessary to operate the entire factory site.

The mayor let them into one of the houses, and Korra was a bit surprised it was neither the biggest nor the nicest in the street. He let them to a meeting room (which doubled as a dining room), but eyed the soldiers mysteriously after he opened the door. Luckily the Avatar had seen this facial expression before.

"Red, Green, guard the door from the outside", she ordered the men, then nodded to the woman, "Blue, come with me." The soldiers saluted and did as they were ordered.

When the door was closed, Korra could have sworn one of the men whispered: "You see that, Ky just fondled her foot and now they are 'friends'." Where "Ky" might or might not have been Blue's real name.

They sat down on the table and a woman (Korra assumed it was the mayor's wife) brought them some tea.

"I'm not going to lie to you", Korra started directly, while trailing the rim of her cup with her finger nervously, "your attack yesterday was unacceptable. And it's weakening your position in this conflict."

"You think anyone here cares", the mayor said and furrowed his brows, "you want to take our mountain! I'd rather have my people die in an armed conflict instead of slowly dieing a wretched death due to starvation."

"We don't want to take your mountain", Korra shook her head defensively, "we want to come to an agreement where both you and the people of Xun can live in harmony."

"Well, than you should give us the mountain", the mayor stated, "we might be Fire Nation colonies, but in Yi both earthbenders and firebenders live peacefully together."

"What's wrong with having half the mountain", Korra questioned.

"It's resources are not evenly distributed. We have more mouths to feed but less ore to mine."

"So maybe some of you should move over to Xun", the Avatar suggested, but the mayor just stared at her, so she reminded him: "Right now neither of you are producing anything."

"Oh, I forgot, you have your nasty little fingers deep inside Future Industry business." The innuendo was completely lost to Korra, since she even struggled with the main statement of the sentence.

"What do you mean", she questioned, even though she actually understood that he was trying to get her all riled up.

The mayor smirked at her: "You're _smooching _the Sato kid, aren't you?" (No, he did not use the word "_smooch_", he used a word that made Korra, who had grown up between Water Tribe warriors, blush furiously. But let us pretend he used that word for now.)

"Wh-what does that have to do with anything", she questioned, trying to will the color out of her face.

"Why are you here, Avatar", Oyabun questioned harshly, "to tell me a war is morally wrong?" Korra slowly nodded at that. "So what do you know about moral? You're _smooching _another woman."

Korra shook her head trying to comprehend the situation. She opened her mouth a few times, but she was just too shocked to form meaningful words. Finally she managed: "How can you compare a war to _that_? I don't hurt anybody, but you got at least four of your own people killed last night."

"So you don't hurt anybody", the mayor spat and stood up, grabbing something from a nearby commode, throwing it in front of Korra on the table - it was the newspaper of some days ago, the one with Tara's face and the headline "SHE HAS TO SUFFER - Because Her Mother Loves Women".

Korra swallowed hard, even though her mouth was completely dry. In return her eyes were threatening to overflow, but she quickly blinked the tears away.

"I'd love to hear: Is the little girl back safe and sound", Oyabun questioned, leaning on the table dangerously, "did they hurt her? Did they _touch _her?"

That was too much for Korra to bear. She jumped from her chair and flinged the table against the wall in a swift motion, jumping at the mayor and pressing him against the wall behind him, only suspending him by his collar.

"You have _no_ right to talk about my daughter like that", Korra told him furiously.

The smirk on his face confused her for a second, when he yelled: "That's no reason to breath fire at me!" And then, even louder: "Guards!"

Three men in uniforms poured into the room, looking at the scene in shock. Mayor Oyabun suddenly seemed on the verge of crying, when he wailed: "She was firebending at me!"

"No, she wasn't", Blue complained, but the soldiers were already pulling Korra off of the mayor. The Avatar looked utterly shocked, unable to make sense of the situation.

"You are not welcomed in Yi any longer, Avatar Korra", Oyabun stated while he adjusted his wrinkled clothes, then he nodded to his guards, "get them out!"

* * *

><p>When Korra sat on Pepper's head after she had been expelled from Yi, she was still trying to find out what exactly had happened and where she had gone wrong. When she came back from her thoughts, she realized Blue had seated herself next to her again. She gave the other woman a questioning look.<p>

"Don't doubt yourself, Rainbow. There was nothing you could have done to prevent this." The Avatar was thankful for these words, but in reality she believed them to be a lie.


	31. Remembrance

The morning Korra went to Yi, Asami had a hard time figuring out how to clean up some of Tara's clothes. The child had slipped shortly after Korra left, splashing mud on her shirt. Trying to help, she then had proceeded to bend the mud out, but was only able to get the water. Now Asami had a shirt with earth weaved deep inside the tissue. It did not help that the laundry (like all the unpopular chores) was usually done by their butler.

"Saki, could you help me out", she questioned when she jumped down the stairs searching for their host. The old woman shuffled out of one of the rooms and took the shirt right from Asami's hands, looked at it, and walked to the nearest sink to get it clean.

"I wanted to talk to you in private anyways", Saki said and showed her how to removed the dirt from the surface of the cloth without damaging the fabric. "Yesterday evening, when you and Avatar Korra came home, you two looked… really close? And with you sleeping in one bed…"

Asami sighed when she realized where this conversation was headed. "Yes, Korra and I are a couple", she admitted nervously, while the old woman rubbed soap on the stain.

"Dear, I usually don't allow fornicators in my home", Saki stated with a surprising warmth, "but I can't very well kick the Avatar out."

There was a moment of silence, when Asami tried to process the information. Living in modern Republic City, she had not heard the term "fornicator" for a while, and she had to think for a moment about what the word even meant.

"I don't think we are… that", she finally said, while the old woman rinsed the cloth. The stain was almost gone, so she started soaping it again.

"So you are married", Saki questioned, eyeing the younger woman sceptically.

Asami blushed when she rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, kind of", she said, which translated to "no", but she could not say that, "Korra had it checked, we couldn't get married in the Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom, the United Republic nor under Air Nation law." She made a small pause and Saki was listening to her patiently - it was amazing that the old lady had that much respect for the other woman, even though she did not tolerate her lifestyle. "And the Water Tribes don't really have official marriages. They just move in with each other and are considered married when the first child arrives."

Now Saki furrowed her brows, but it might just have been her dissatisfaction over the stain that was still visible after the second rinsing.

"But we did follow the marriage tradition of hunting a tiger seal, cooking a meal together, building an igloo from scratch and sleeping in it for a night without freezing to death." Asami still shuddered when she thought of that night, but she had a goofy grin on her face anyways. When the old woman looked at her questioningly, she added: "It's exactly as cold as it sounds."

Saki laughed at that: "I'd say! You should have rather followed the traditions of one of the other nations! They just throw rice or pottery or doves on their wedding day!" The old woman presented the shirt to Asami - now it was spotless. The younger woman took it with a thanks. "I'm no politician and now lawer", Saki mumbled, washing her hands, "so if you tried to get married, that's enough for me. It's more than most couples do nowadays." Asami's breath stopped for a moment, and she leaned against a nearby wall with a guilty expression. "What is it, dear?"

"I was actually happy that we couldn't get legally married", she confessed, not looking at the woman at the sink, "I thought it was way too early. And that whole 'wait till you're married' part… it was terrifying to me. What if we just didn't work out that way?" Suddenly she remembered that it was Korra, who had taught her the word "fornication". "I was glad we could follow Water Tribe traditions for Korra, without the legal bindings of my world." The words had poured out of Asami's mouth without her realizing it. Now she looked up with fright. Saki smiled grandmotherly, confusing Asami: "Aren't you mad?"

"What you said just goes to show that you're taking wedlock seriously", the older woman said and tilted her head a bit, "and I believe it's not what you think now."

The goofy grin made its return on Asami's face when she uncharacteristically answered without thinking: "No, now I'd marry her in a heartbeat. I can't imagining a life without Korra." Saki laughed at that and gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder.

"Your time will come, dear, your time will come."

* * *

><p>Korra stopped the military vehicle next to Saki's cottage and took a deep breath. If somebody had told her that morning that her day would get worse after burying the soldiers of Yi, she would have laughed at them. Now she felt like burying herself somewhere.<p>

She stepped out of the car and walked next to the hedge, suddenly dropping to the floor when she saw a chainsaw in front of her.

"Spirits, Korra", Asami yelled, turning the saw of and running around the hedge to see if her girlfriend was alright, "I didn't see you! Why are you so short?!"

Korra struggled to her feet and looked at the other woman angrily. The chainsaw attack was something she could forgive, but another quip about her height? That was just cruel.

Asami did not realize that she was angrily stared at and kissed her girlfriend and then hugged her tightly. Finally she questioned: "So why are you home already?"

"Didn't went well", Korra answered tersely, "I was kicked out of Yi for firebending at the mayor."

"Your bending is already back", Asami asked with a bright smile, which fell when she saw the other woman's expression.

"No", was the simple answer. The looked at each other for some moments, until the Avatar shook her anger off and looked around: "So where is everyone?"

That made the engineer smirk again, when she laced her fingers with Korra's and pulled her through the gate. Korra had the distinct expression the ground in front of the cottage looked different than before, but she must have been imagining things.

The Asami pulled her in the backyard Korra's jaw dropped. The garden was located on the mountainside, with the ground rising quite steeply at some points. But while before there were fruit trees and vegetable gardens scattered over the entire property, now it was just a relaxing river course, a stone garden and a group of trees with some benches and a table. Korra realized she had been right - the frontyard had changed, they had moved all the eatable plants in front of the house, so that Saki would not need to climb the mountain. In return, now all the decorative flowers where located somewhere in the backyard.

Qiang was working on a stone slab, it already looked as if he was trying to bend a small bridge out of it. Tara stood somewhere in the stream, evidently trying to bend the water to follow her. Since her clothes were wet up to her navel at some point that must have worked quite well.

When the child saw her parents approach, she waved frantically. "Mommy! Look", she yelled, "we're landscraping!"

Korra was entirely baffled at that point. "So that's what you do when I'm not home", she asked, which made Asami laugh next to her.

"Before we had Tara, I just sat in a dark room until you got back."

The Avatar raised an eyebrow at that confession. With the tiniest smile she responded: "I knew it!"

* * *

><p>Korra found landscaping to be extraordinarily relaxing, even though she was confined to use tools and machines like Asami did. The entire day was spent working in Saki's garden, with the old woman bringing them treats and drinks and explaining that they should not be doing so much, but in the end she seemed immensely grateful. After the day's work the garden looked amazing, and the sign advertising the holiday flat was again visible from the street.<p>

They went to the hot springs after that, to wind down and relax, which worked well enough for Tara, since she fell asleep in Korra's arms on their way home. When they had put the child to bed the remaining three adults sat on the benches next to the trees, talking.

"Don't nod off", Asami teased, poking Korra in the side, "you know I can't carry you." The Avatar opened her eyes again and blinked at her girlfriend tiredly. "So what did General Iroh say?"

"He said they were preparing the troops for war now, but I should go to Xun tomorrow anyways. They want to send someone else to to Yi, but he doesn't think Oyabun will listen to anyone." Korra yawned shamelessly. "And he said I should go home to sleep and be pampered by my wife."

"He said that", Asami questioned, and the Avatar waved her off.

"Something like that, yeah, I'm pretty sure."

The engineer looked amused for a moment, until she saw Korra's solemn face, and she asked: "Did you ever laugh today?"

The Avatar blinked at that weird question. "Today's not really a good day to laugh", she explained, "the mayor of Yi blew me off because of us, and you can't really tell me that's not my fault. There is going to be a war and I can't bend or do anything to prevent it. Oh, and the people that died last night because of me remain dead." She stretched. "Well, I'll go to bed. Goodnight you guys!" Korra gave Asami a kiss and walked away with heavy feet.

"If you want, the sofa is big enough, you can move Tara to sleep with me again", Qiang stated after a while. Asami looked at him with a baffled expression, so he explained: "You know, so you can have some time together. You seem to be the only thing that's keeping her together."

"Why do you even care", Asami questioned, but tried to be as nice about it as possible, "sometimes you are acting all jealous and then you are so… kind to her."

Her bodyguard shrugged. "I guess she is just a charismatic person", he said and thought about it, "weren't you the one who told me she became best friends with the girl stealing her boyfriend? Is it so hard to believe that I feel the same way about Korra as you did with your boyfriend pinching best friend?"

Asami pressed her lips together tightly at that; of course he would feel the same way about Korra. You could literally not stay mad at the girl, especially not if she sported the polar bear puppy pout. Unwittingly she looked to the window her girlfriend was now sleeping in.

A roaring laughter made her face the man again. We was wiping a tear from the corner of his eye when he explained it: "The way you looked at the house… for a moment I thought you best friend was Korra."

"She was", came the reply through clenched teeth, then the correction, "she is."

Qiang felt silent immediately: "Korra stole your boy?" Asami nodded, and he started to laugh again. "Really", he pressed, "they should make a mover out of you guys. I think the working title would be: 'Korra and Asami - the women who didn't let a man come between them'. Like literally."

Asami had enough of being laughed at, and showed it by standing up.

"Wait? Where are you going", the policeman questioned and stood up as well, "you didn't even tell my why Korra would _want _a man."

She sighed and looked at the cottage. "It was a very weird combination of a celebrity crush and trying to be like everybody else", she explained slowly, "the Southern Water Tribes are pretty open about that sort of stuff, and when she realized Republic City was not, she tried to fake being normal." Qiang had stopped laughing and mirrored Asami's almost sad expression, which lit up when she remembered another point: "Well, that, and a big part was that she didn't want to lose to the 'prissy girl'."

They walked back to the house. When they stepped up the stairs, Qiang felt the need to tell her some last words: "If it's any consolation, I don't think you are _that _prissy."


	32. Xun

Korra was half an hour late when she drove into the United Forces camp the next morning. Tara had spilled her breakfast on her, and since she did not have that much green clothes, Korra had needed to clean them. Even though that accident was her excuse for being late, it only made for maybe 15 minutes of delay, the other 15 minutes were just her usual tardiness.

"Good morning Avatar Korra, it's so good to see you", Iroh stated when she entered his tent, "do you want some tea?" Korra nodded and saw one of the soldiers preparing some for her.

When she got her cup, she recognized the woman: "Thanks, Blue."

"You're welcome, Rainbow", Blue replied in a whisper and winked, then moved to stand behind Iroh silently.

"Meelo wants to stay with the troops", Iroh informed her, then furrowed his brows, "I get the feeling the kid is trying to recruit soldiers for an Air Nation army." He shook his head to clear it. "But I'd advise you to take at least another soldier to protect you and the airbender girls."

"I want to take Blue", Korra stated, making the general's left eyebrow rise.

"Blue", he repeated, but then he saw who the Avatar was looking at, and smiled, "oh, Ky!" Evidently, the woman's name was Ky after all, not that Korra had remembered that name. Iroh turned to the soldier: "You heard her, you're going with the Avatar today."

Blue saluted and walked to now stand behind the Avatar.

"And Korra", Iroh said with a smirk, "her name is Lieutenant Kyoshi."

While Korra still thought about how she could have forgotten such a acquainted name, the women left the tent. Since the silence was awkward, Korra jested: "So you're named after the Avatar? No wonder you're such a big fan." She had always felt that saying someone was a _fan _of Avatar Kyoshi was a pun in and of itself. "Little known fact: I have the name of an Avatar as well." Blue laughed at the bad joke.

"Korra", three happy airbender kids yelled when they saw the Avatar.

"Let me guess: Yellow, Amber and Flavescent", Blue joked, which made Korra stick her tongue out at her.

"Jinora, Meelo, Ikki" she greeted them and gave a defiant glance to the soldier.

"We're sorry for standing you up", Jinora said and looked down, but the Avatar gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, I wasn't feeling all too well yesterday either. We'll just meet up today!"

"Oh that's going to be so exciting", Ikki blabbed with a bright smile, "I can't wait to see Asami again. How long has it been? It's been three months at least. And your daughter! She's so cute. And I know it's not possible but I swear she just totally looks like you, Korra."

"I'm excited, too", Korra questioned, then turned to the last airbender child and saluted, "Meelo, I heard your orders are to wipe the troops in shape?"

Meelo saluted in return: "Yes, Sir!"

"Report back when we get home", Korra ordered, then turned to the girls around her, "we're leaving now."

* * *

><p>"Avatar Korra, what a pleasure", the voice of Xun's mayor was a lot more pleasant to Korra's ears, and sounded a lot more honest.<p>

She jumped off Pepper's saddle to bow, reciting the greeting, calling the mayor by his name, Long-Tu. Then she pointed to the girls that lined up behind her: "I brought with me Master Tenzin's daughters, Master Jinora and Ikki, and Lieutenant Kyoshi of the United Forces."

This mayor led the Avatar and her group into his home, sitting them down in the living room. Both airbenders prepared for just listening, since their presence was only for representation, and they were quite sure Korra would manage the meeting quite well on her own.

"I'm honest with you, Avatar Korra", Mayor Long-Tu started, "I have no idea what you want from me. We got a declaration of war from Yi this morning, they will attack tomorrow at sundown; my people have every right to defend themselves." His brows furrowed. "You know what their justification is?"

"No", Korra answered flatly, but was pretty sure she did not want to hear it, either.

"They said the United Force attacked their mayor", Long said as if he was telling the story of how his wife brewed the wrong kind of tea by accident, "they said _you _firebended at Oyabun."

"Well, I didn't."

"Don't get me wrong, I can't blame you", the mayor stated while sipping on his tea, "it's just not really helping our cause."

"I. Did. Not. Firebend. At. Him", Korra repeated and was starting to get angry, but not necessarily at the man in front of her.

"She really didn't", Blue interrupted with an facial expression that told everyone she felt very out of place, "I was with her yesterday. Actually, I did not see her bend at all these days."

Korra kept a straight face, but the airbender girls left and right to her to her slumped visibly into the sofa, making Mayor Long-Tu suspicious.

"We are under attack, so the United Forces will come to defend us, don't you", he questioned, steering away from the subject.

The Avatar nodded when she answered: "The United Forces will be your defense, since they won't accept their justification for the war."

"So it would be some kind of war crime to withhold information from me considering your bending", he explained, raising one eyebrow.

Korra grinned lopsidedly at him: "I'm the Avatar, I'm not part of any nation's army, and most definitive not of the United Forces. It's just sometimes our goals overlap… and sometimes they don't. My goal is to prevent the war altogether."

"And how would you like to do it?"

"I could tell you that if you decide to take part in this useless war, your goods will be banned in Republic City."

Long-Tu looked at Korra in shock, then he started to laugh: "I'll call your bluff on that."

"President Raiko told me himself before I left the city."

"Avatar Korra, remind me, where do you live", the mayor questioned kindly.

"In Lu", she answered, unsure where the discussion was going.

He smirked at her: "No, no. In Republic City. You live in the Sato Mansion, don't you?" She had no choice but to nod at that. "And your… erm… partner is Miss Sato herself, isn't she?" Another nod. "And still you are threatening our city with ruining the Sato company, Future Industries?" Korra's head stayed stubbornly in place. "Does Miss Sato even know you are jeopardizing her company right now?"

"The subject of what I do for a living might have come up once or twice", Korra stated, and it sounded a lot more harshly than she had planned for.

"I think you are well aware that we have every right to defend our state", the mayor explained, waving his hands, "and no one will sanction us, not even Republic City."

"It's not about who is right", Korra explained in a frustrated tone of voice, "even if you are right, you are going to lose your soldiers: men, women, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters. Do you want that?"

The mayor looked towards the door for some long moments, thinking about his family, before he spoke: "I have to correct you, only the Fire Nation treats women as equals, we protected our wives and daughters." He made a pause. "But of course no one would want to let people die, no matter their gender. That's why we have to win this war with the help of the United Force."

Korra groaned and furiously stood up: "Don't you get it? There is no winner in a war, only losers! You want to know the last war I was in? It was the civil war in Chin. And these people were darn right to revolt against their leaders. They were the lucky ones, they had the United Forces to back them up, because whatever the government was doing over there was not okay. So the renegades won quickly in a matter of weeks, but the only thing _I_ can remember is 50 hungry orphans in a house made for maybe 20 children. 50 kids that had no family, not even grandparents or aunts and uncles, and in a small town like Chin at that."

The Avatar had talked herself into rage, and at that point no one would have been surprised if she actually started breathing fire. But her rant had an effect on Long-Tu, and he stared at nothing in particular.

"Don't believe I'm not taking this seriously", he stated, "but we have no choice in the matter anymore."

Korra sighed in frustration: "I'll send some of the troops over. I trust you to work together so that we'll spare as many lives as possible." The mayor nodded.

After that they spent some time in Xun, talking about what it meant for them to be defended by the United Force, but flew back soon enough.

"Korra", Ikki questioned deep in thought, "why did Yi even tell them they were going to attack tomorrow?"

"Probably some Fire Nation quirk", Korra mumbled, laying on her back on Pepper and staring at the clouds above her, "I guess it's not honorable to attack another state without calling first."

"And it's protocoll", Blue corrected, "every nation who wants to get help from the United Forces at some point has to follow some rules, like they promise not to torture prisoners of war, or anyone for that matter."

"And why are they attacking at sundown", Ikk questioned, now asking the Lieutenant directly.

"Because they are stupid cowardly firebenders, and they think since they control the light, they'll control the war", Blue stated directly.

"Didn't work too well two nights ago", Korra added without emotion.

"No wonder, the moon is almost full", Blue was searching the sky, then looked at Korra with a grin, "so tomorrow you and me and the other waterbenders of the United Forces will kick their butts, what do you think?"

"Sounds lovely", the Avatar felt the pit in her stomach when she thought of the following day, but her stubbornness was stronger, at least for now.

"Well, it's a date, then."


	33. Family Bonds

**Author's note:** Huh, that finale yesterday, wasn't it something? If you've seen it, you know this fic is going to bit more AUish on some minor issues (I actually thought this would happen a lot sooner, since I started writing even before the first episode of book 4), and I won't make any attempt to gloss it over. Just so you know: I'm aware. But I'm kinda surprised how well it fits with the story overall. Who would have guessed? Takes the fun right out of writing fanfiction, though.

* * *

><p>"Jinora, can you phone Asami and tell her we'll be coming soon", Korra questioned when they were still flying on Pepper.<p>

The young airbender rolled her eyes at that: "Korra, that is an ancient secret technique that can only be used by the best airbender masters in the world."

"Is that a yes?"

Jinora sighed: "Just for you! You know how draining it is to zoom in on someone I don't have a spiritual connection with." The girl started meditating while still on Peppers head.

The Avatar grinned awkwardly at the persons next to her, Ikki and Blue. The later one had evidently no idea what was going one.

Some minutes later, the airbender master announced: "You won't guess what Asami was doing!"

"Sitting in the treetop of the apple tree and lopping the branches", Korra guessed lying on her back, watching the sky. That way she was not able to see Jinora pout.

"And she told me to tell you…", she said, giving the Avatar the chance to suggest the ending of the sentence.

"...that I should bring milk for Tara and some fire-water for us", came the reply, after which Korra raised her head to see if she was right.

"You're no fun", Jinora said, crossing her arms and now actually starting to look where they were flying, while Ikki giggled.

Blue was completely lost, so the Avatar filled her in: "The girls think it's some kind of superpower that I'm actually listening when Asami talks to me. "

The soldier's confused expression did not change: "Who's Asami?"

"You don't know Asami", Ikki question and leaned closer on her arms, "they're like the prime example for every best friends ever. You could tell one of them any sentence and just with a look the other one would know it, too."

Korra laughed at that: "I don't think we could do that. We're really amazing together, but we actually talk every now and then to communicate."

"But you are polar opposites", Ikki decided.

"We are what now?"

"Polar opposites. You're different in every imaginable way. She likes red, you like blue. She loves her Satomobiles, you love to ride animals. She is modern, you are traditional. She's good with money, you don't care for it. You love raw meat, she hates it. She loves the heat, you love the cold. She's a nonbender, you are the Avatar. She is into boys, you are into girls."

The last one shocked the Avatar. Not because of the statement, but because Tenzin's girls always seemed to be in denial about her and Asami's relationship. She guessed it was because it just did not fit with all the sappy romance novels and princess stories they had read, but she did not really care that the girls referred to them as best friends. Now the last part of the comparison showed that at least Ikki was aware that people could be attracted to someone of their own gender. Maybe there was still hope to get the girls to acknowledge their relationship someday.

Blue had sceptically followed Ikki's rant, and looked almost jealous for a moment when she questioned: "So, is this the same girl the mayors said you were _smooching_?"

A loud shriek escaped Ikki's lips as she clapped her hands over her ear with a shocked expression. The Avatar had reacted at the same moment, and now her hands laid on top of the girl's on Ikki's head.

"Language", both yelled, making the soldier actually blush and look at them embarrassed.

"Oyabun said it, not me", Blue defended herself.

"Did you hear that word from the mayor", Korra asked the girl after removing all their hands from her ears.

Ikki thought long but was shaking her head the entire time. She was about to speak when Korra punched her lightly.

"You should have said 'which word'", the Avatar told her, and the airbender shrugged in defeat, "I swear to all the spirits if you ever repeat that word to your dad, I'll go to the South Pole myself, find and tame another polar bear dog and raise it till it's as big as Naga was, or bigger, and then I'll hunt you down and get you eaten!"

"If you survive dad", Ikki said while sticking out her tongue.

"It wasn't even my fault", Korra complained, pointing at the soldier accusingly, "it was Blue's!"

The girl grinned, then turned to Blue, who was looking more and more misplaced: "See, that's why she can remember every little detail Asami tells her: Because the space in her head, where other people store names, is empty."

"I know her name is Kyoshi", Korra said, pouting at the girl.

"So why don't you call her by her name, then", Ikki countered.

"For the same reason I call you doofus!"

"You never call me that."

"But I'm thinking about it", Korra teased the girl, and when Ikki made a face at her, she let the word roll off her lips: "Doofus!" The airbender was about to pounce on the Avatar, when Blue cleared her throat. The two squabblers looked at her as if she had just materialized out of thin air.

"We're almost there", the soldier told them and pointed towards the military camp before them.

"Uh, Blue", Korra asked awkwardly after some moments, "seeing as you're part of the extended Team Avatar now, you are invited to join the airbenders and us for some dinner." She smiled at the soldier. "If you'd like, of course, that's no order."

"Yeah", Ikki cheered, "come with us! Than you can meet Asami, too!" Blue seemed to not like that idea. "And Tara!" Now the soldier looked confused again. "That's her daughter." And she was back to not liking the idea. "Oh, and that other guy." Ikki looked questioningly at Korra, who shrugged.

"He's Asami's bodyguard", she said goodnatured, "but kinda acts like he's some handsome knight on a white horse." The Avatar turned to Blue. "So what do you say? You wanna come?"

"I've a curfew, so I have to pass", the soldier answered, "but thanks anyway, Rainbow."

Ikki had furrowed her brows at Blue's last word, and now stood up to fly over next to her sister. When she sat down, she huffed: "Grownups are weird."

* * *

><p>"Why can't you just bend the car into the parking space", Meelo groaned when Korra shifted the gear for the seventh time into reverse to try and park the army vehicle, "we would have been way faster if we flew."<p>

"We would have been way fast if we walked", Ikki corrected.

"Just be quiet, will you", Korra snarled at them, trying to concentrate on what she was doing, "also, I can't bend. Plus Satomobiles used by the army are unbendable." After moving the car back and forth for another time, she was satisfied (and irritated) enough and exited the vehicle. The airbenders followed her.

They were greeted at the gates to Saki's property by Asami: "Hey you guys! I heard you 'park' the car." She looked over to where the Satomobile was "parked" and tried not to laugh.

Korra jumped over the gate and led Asami away some steps telling her about what was happening the next evening.

"You're not going to war like this", the engineer stated without a moment's hesitation, but Korra shook her head.

"We'll talk later, but I will need to go", the Avatar answered, and kissed her girlfriends forehead, "where's the kid?"

"In the back", Asami answered, while she watched the airbender children pour through the gate and hug her.

"Asami, it's so great to see you", Ikki stated.

"We're so sorry we ran out on you two days ago", Jinora continued.

"But the world needed me - I mean us", Meelo added.

Korra was already half way around the cottage when she saw them hugging, and she smiled at the sight. Asami had always been very awkward around kids, she guessed because she was lacking a mother in her life, but ever since they had Tara, she got better and better with them. It probably helped that the airbender children were getting older, too, with Meelo being almost 12 by now.

"Mommy! Mom taught me bending", Tara screamed from somewhere in the garden, before Korra could even make her out. The Avatar finally found her running over to her from a decorated dining table under the trees - evidently, they were not going out to eat today.

"Mom did", Korra questioned baffled and tried to see what Tara was holding behind her little back.

"Yes, Asami", Tara explained like her mother was some random stranger that would get their naming confused, then showed her what she was holding - it was a orange blob on a stick.

"Is that… ice", Korra asked, taking it away from the child.

"Yes, mango juice ice", Tara said, bobbing up and down, "lick it. It's tasty."

The Avatar did as she was told and smiled - the frozen treat was delicious. She put the entire thing in her mouth to suck on it. "That's great", she said with a full mouth, "and you made it just for me?"

"No, for Qi", Tara answered honestly, "but he didn't like the taste."

Korra's face fell and she looked over to where she had seen the man earlier setting the table. He looked over to them and laughed when he saw her with the ice in her mouth. Evidently he had actually licked it himself. Or worse.

"Still tasty", she finally decided, while the airbenders and Asami had approached them again. Now all of them walked over to the table.

"Ew, Tara, did you give Korra the Qi's ice", Asami questioned with a disgusted look.

"It's fine", the Avatar was laughing now, "I had worse things in my mouth." Meelo and Qiang were snickering at that point. The airbender boy had become somewhat of a lost cause. Somebody had told him that men found women dating other women incredible hot, and that he should fantasize about them at any given opportunity, and his malleable young mind did just that.

"No", both women said simultaneously, while Jinora hit her forehead because of the behaviour of her brother. Asami quickly followed her no up with an explanation: "She meant raw meat."

"What", Korra was shocked, "I love raw meat. I meant Zaheer's poison!"

"Raw meat is still gross", Asami countered and her girlfriend just shrugged.

"Still tasty, though."


	34. Law and Orders

"Ready. Set. Rumble", Ikki shouted and jumped back from the two fighters. Korra and Meelo circled each other in slow motions, ready to strike at each second. They were fighting about if the boy had to behave himself while at the table, including fartbending, picking his nose and belching. Asami already saw her girlfriend losing, seeing as the boy was almost an airbender master and the Avatar had no bending at all.

Suddenly the Avatar stood straight and looked into the sky, her face a mask of terror. She exclaimed a word that made the girls at the table exclaim "Language!", but then all turned to look at what she was staring at.

"Korra, what is it", Asami questioned in fright when she found nothing, but when all turned back, Korra sat on a floundering Meelo's back.

"You're heavy, woman", Meelo complained, "and that's just not fair!"

"How is it fair that you're fighting me when I don't have bending", Korra questioned, but did not even think about standing up yet.

"You're the Avatar, deal with it!"

"And I did, and now you get to show off your best table manners." The Avatar stood up at that and grabbed Meelo by his collar to put him back on his feet.

"Hey, look on the bright side", Qiang said when the boy sat on a bench next to him, "now you get to say you had the Avatar on top of you. I bet not many men can say the same." Both males beamed and started to knock their fists together, making the girls groan and Asami and Korra exchanging glances as if they were planning a murder right there.

"Oh dears, did I miss the fight", Saki explained when she brought the soy sauce over from the house.

"Korra cheated", Meelo repeated the entire fight for the old lady.

She just shook her head in amusement: "Don't be a sore loser. You had no chance to begin with, fighting the Avatar."

Since now everyone was seated on the table, Jinora spoke a blessing and they started eating.

"Can you fight Qi later, Tara questioned while putting some rice in her bowl. Both Korra and Qiang looked incredible embarrassed at that proposal.

"No, it wouldn't be fair", Qiang answered quickly, "you know, without bending." Tara was not impressed, she thought that was a lame excuse, and she wanted to voice her opinion when Korra poked her in the site.

"What I really want to know is: how did you learn how to make ice?"

"I told you: Mom taught me", Tara repeated her earlier words slowly, so that even Korra would catch on.

"I remembered that you told me making ice was the opposite of healing", Asami explained with a smile, "just instead of pushing Chi or whatever, you pull. I told Tara that and she practiced the entire morning."

The child giggled and turned her tea cup around - a block of ice fell out.

"Could you -", Asami started the question, but Korra had already placed the ice back into the mug and started firebending - but without the fire. She set the cup with the still frozen tea down with a groan.

"So she has the patience to practice an entire day", Jinora put down her bowl and looked over at the child impressed.

Ikki joined her, once she knew what her sister was getting at: "Korra, your child has already beaten you with the patience part!"

"Just shut up and eat", Korra said, but even the children could tell that she was incredibly proud of the little girl.

* * *

><p>They ate, joked and played some more that evening. Korra wanted to drive the airbenders back to the camp, but the three wanted to take the faster route of flying (or walking, as Meelo had exclaimed in frustration).<p>

Tara was brought to bed, and Korra and Asami sat down on the sofa to talk over some tea. They had given Qiang the option to sit in the same room and keep quiet for once, or they would take a walk on their own again. He sat at the table and was staring at the book he always took out when he had a moment to himself.

"You remember, how you always brought me tea", Korra questioned to get the ball rolling, while sipping on her mug, "because you thought I was cold?" Asami laughed when she remembered. "Even when I was laying in my underwear somewhere and was panting like a polar bear dog because of the heat in Republic City?"

"It was never about the tea or the cold", the engineer answered with a smirk, "I was worried about you. Still am. Is there any way to get you out of this crazy war?"

Korra sat her tea down on the nearby table and moved to face her girlfriend. "No." It was a clear statement, and she made a pause for emphasis. "Even as the Avatar I'm more than my past lives and my bending. If there is anyone in this world they will not hurt, it's me."

"But if they want to, they'll have a really easy job doing it", Asami added for consideration, fidgeting on the sofa until they sat opposite to each other, with their knees touching.

The Avatar smiled, and it was a good sign in itself that she was already able to do it. "How long have you known me?" It was a rhetorical question, but the engineer gave her the answer (eight years) anyway. "You know my skills have a knack for only kicking in at the last possible opportunity. Like my first time airbending - a moment later, and I wouldn't be alive." Asami was visible hurt at the prospect and looked at her lap. When she returned her gaze to her girlfriend, Korra was searching the ceiling and pointing. "I know I'm not able to connect to them, but somebody up there really wants me to be alive."

"And if your bending doesn't come back?"

"Then we'll have a war and many dead people", Korra stated matter-of-factly, "the same if I don't go."

"No, I meant, what would happen to you", the engineer took the other woman's hands and held them tightly, "what would Tara and I do without you?"

Korra could not make eye contact after that, she just stared out of the window. "You're the strongest person in the world, you'll get over it", she finally mumbled.

"_I_ am the strongest person? You're the Avatar!"

"And everytime I break you put me back together", Korra explained and pulled Asami towards herself, so their foreheads were touching, "that means you are the strong one."

Asami sighed in frustration: "I don't know if I could live without you."

"I know I couldn't live with myself if I didn't try to prevent the war", Korra countered.

"Just promise me you'll be careful", the engineer whispered and pulled the other woman over into a hug, "and you really need to have your documents with you."

"Yes, Sir", Korra saluted, a gesture which her girlfriend was not able to see but feel, since they were still hugging.

The documents were precautions for the case that something happened to Korra. When Asami had checked the legality of their relationship, her legal counsellors had told her that they might face difficulties with hospitals and other facilities with a "family only" policy. So the Avatar carried some kind of living will with her stating that Asami Sato was supposed to be considered "family". However the truth was that Korra always forgot the documents, and even though she rarely had them with her, she had managed to lose them a dozen times already. Thanks to the spirits they had never needed them anyways.

"So where are they", Asami held Korra at arms length when she asked the question.

The Avatar checked her pockets and the space under her breast bindings, where she sometimes stored stuff when her trousers had no pockets, and blushed slightly. "In the car", she stated under a cough.

"The one at home?"

"No, the army one, in front of the house!"

"With the milk and alcohol?"

Korra hit her forehead: "Yes, with the milk and alcohol. I knew I was forgetting something. But it's really hard to concentrate with Meelo criticizing my driving all the time."

"Never had the problem", Asami smirked and hugged her girlfriend again.

* * *

><p>The remainder of the evening was rather uneventful. Korra fetched the alcohol from the Satomobile (it was a regional specialty) and they invited Qiang to drink with them, talk and later say their goodnights.<p>

Even the next morning was plain, but maybe depending on who was asked. The Avatar had decided that she would spent the morning with her family and they all exercised again and ate something. After that the airbenders picked her up with Pepper and flew to the military camp, while Asami took Tara out to see the market.

The discussions in Iroh's tent were long and tedious, and it did not help that Korra was getting more nervous by the hour. Evidently the airbenders and Iroh had been in Yi to talk with the hotheaded mayor about peace that morning. He did not like the idea, because it meant giving half of the mountain up.

They had tried everything. He was told that if he started a war for such a fabricated reason as Avatar Korra firebending at him (which she did not), his entire state would lose the support of the United Nations, and nobody would buy their ore after the fact.

Mayor Oyabun argued that since Yi would be the only state selling some types of ore, even Republic City would need to buy it, and they would find a loophole in the import laws. His voice was thick with disgust when he added that he would cease all business relations with Future Industries after all he had learned the previous days anyways.

Korra had stopped listening when Iroh told her about that, because she actually felt like she would not be able to stomach that much hate.

"Rainbow, are you okay?"

Korra blinked at Blue with a confused expression, then at their surroundings - they were flying on Pepper towards the only pass in the mountain connecting Xun and Yi. Both the soldier and the airbender girls looked worried, Meelo was flying the bison.

"She asked what your orders are", Jinora repeated, since she could tell very well that Korra had not been listening.

"Oh", Korra stood up, even though she was still afraid of flying, and called for Meelo, then yelled over to wind, "airbenders, you are no fighters, so I want you to get fallen soldiers from the battlefield. Just be careful. And remember: you're goal is to protected people of all states and nations." She thought for a moment, then turned to the soldier. "Blue, you're a commanding officer?"

The woman looked curiously at the Avatar and nodded.

"Get some waterbenders together, you'll heal the soldiers the airbenders evacuate. There's no question the United Forces will take out the army of Yi, but I'd like to have as little victims as possible."

Blue raised a hand in question: "You know we have a division for healing fallen soldiers? I think we call them 'healers'. They're clad in blue." She tugged on her clearly red uniform, showing she was infantry.

"The United Forces do, but I doubt the Fire Nation colonies will have one", Korra explained, then sat down and added quieter, "and if something goes wrong, and you have nothing better to do, get me out of there." She looked at nobody in particular, because she knew how worried the faces of the girls were.

They sat for some moments in silence before Meelo yelled: "We're at the frontline. Get ready, everyone."


	35. Sign

When Korra jumped from Pepper this time, she was fully aware that she was not able to airbend, and Meelo had flown the bison really close to the ground because of that. She landed on top of a big sign marking the border between the states. One side stated "Welcome to Yi", the other was covered in ration slurs where visitors were once welcomed to Xun.

From her position, she could see the armies quite well to either side, and more importantly, they could see her. She was pretty sure not even the mayor of Yi would dare to kill the Avatar - she just did not want to bet her life on it.

The sun was still above the horizon, but she did not dare step into Yi, because it could be considered an attack, seeing as she was the most powerful being in the world - at least in the general opinion.

"Hey! Yi people! Send some officers over", she called over to where she saw firebenders and earthbenders prepare themselves in unity for the war. Her voice echoed in the plantless mountain pass, and she saw that they assembled a small group to walk over to her.

It was Mayor Oyabun with three men and a woman. Korra was somewhat relieved that the mayor had the decency to fight himself, judging from the strips on his uniform even as some kind of commander. She had feared he would just send people out to get killed, while laughing maniacally in his lair below the mountain.

Oyabun instructed his troops when they came close, probably so that the Avatar would be able to understand him: "Don't give in to her lies."

Korra was already sick of him. "I won't lie to you, I don't need to", she explained calmly, "but what you're doing is crazy. You'll gain nothing!"

"Your General Iroh already tried that this morning", the mayor stated, and the officers behind him crossed her arms in front of them.

"Were all of you present", Korra questioned, and saw that at least some of them were shaking their head, "you'll lose the support of the United Force! Every state around you will be able to attack you without having to fear sanctions! Even Xun. And if you capture their land they will have a very good reason to attack you whenever they feel like it." She gave them some seconds to let that sink in. "And nobody will want to make business with you anymore, even if the United Nations will not ban your goods, which they will." Korra took a deep breath, so she would not start to ramble. "And did Oyabun tell you he doesn't want to sell to Future Industries anymore?"

The four officers exchanged confused looks, and it was the woman who questioned: "But isn't Future Industries our biggest customer?"

Oyabun's face was red and angry when he spun around: "Don't listen to her! She has a personal interest in us supplying Future Industries." He waved at Korra. "Tell her, kid!"

The Avatar flopped down to sit on the sign, pressing the soles of her feet against the wood. She leaned forward so that her arms were resting on her thighs, as if telling a big secret: "I'm _smooching_ THE Asami Sato." She grinned lopsidedly at them, even though it made her sick to her bones to degenerate her loving relationship into something like _smooching_.

The officers' eyebrows shot up at that, and they shared looks again, not sure what to think anymore.

"But", Korra interrupted their thoughts, "I have to tell you, when you want to start this war, you'll have to go through me anyways, and I think THE Asami Sato might be a bit unforgiving for getting her lover hurt. Just sayin'."

The Avatar breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the groups faces - they were not sure that was a risk they were willing to take. Oyabun was furrowing his eyebrows at them. "What are you thinking about? You really think she'd get herself hurt on purpose so that her _smooch buddy_ could take revenge on us?"

The officers looked torn, so the mayor continued: "There are only two outcomes today: We'll retreat like cowards and get ripped off when they decide how to split up the mountain. Or we fight like the honorary citizens we are and have a chance at supporting ourselves and our families."

"But only one of the outcomes has you going back to your families all alive and well", Korra added for consideration.

Mayor Oyabun just snarled at her: "Yes, so you can watch them starve to death."

"I say we fight", the female officer stated, pushing her fist in the air, and Korra was yet again reminded that women in the military tended to be more dauntless than men.

The males took a moment, and she saw their decision waver until they agreed with the woman. They evidently did not want to look less brave than a woman. "Equality my butt", was all Korra could think of.

"Nice try, Avatar", Oyabun literally spat at one of the sign's post to show his distaste, "I hope you're not such a failure when you're _smooching_ your women."

Korra climbed angrily to her feet, to balance yet again on the thick wood. "Don't worry, I am", she snarled at him and watched the group of soldiers turn and walk away.

"And give my greetings to the little girl you always get hurt because of your lifestyle", he yelled over his shoulders, and it took a big portion of self-control to not go after him and smash his ugly face into the next wall.

Then Korra was alone. She checked the sun - she was already red and bright and kissing the horizon. The Avatar really hoped someone in Yin would come to their senses soon, so they would not have to fight after all.

When she heard a bison groan, she looked upwards, and saw Pepper and the airbenders flying circles over her head. "Korra", Meelo called to her and jumped from the bison to fly around her more closely, "Yin has a tank."

"They have a tank", Korra repeated in shock, still hoping she had not heard correctly.

"Please be careful", the airbender told her earnestly and saluted, making him drop some feet. He flew up to meet with his siblings shortly after.

That announcement was nothing to calm Korra's nerves. Her eyes followed the flying bison for some moments, until she looked back at the United Forces. The soldiers were too far away for her to make out details, but she saw General Iroh looking her away. And she was pretty sure she saw Blue (because there were not that many women in the United Forces, much less wearing the red infantry uniform) - she had gathered a troop of blue clad healers around herself and was standing close to Iroh, waiting for something.

"I hate this being patient stuff", Korra mumbled when she spun on her heel to face the enemy again.

She watched the sunset, and saw firebenders lit up on both sides of the border.

Korra was almost bored by the time the troops started moving, but was still shocked when she saw the movement in the darkness. She fixated on the approaching soldiers and was finally able to make out the tank Meelo had announced. Korra needed to stop this war now.

It was an absurd situation: Korra stood on a wooden sign, with two armies marching towards her in the narrow valley. The tank just entered the mountain pass from one side, his humming echoed against the walls.

"Stop that", Korra yelled in panic, but nobody listened to her. When the full moon rose behind the Avatar, she could actually _feel _how her waterbending returned. As was her custom, she tried fire first anyways, but the moon weakened her skills so much only a trail of smoke was leaving her hands. Since she already knew that she could bend water, she tried earth next, but could not get the ground to move, maybe due to her position on the sign. But she did not dare to jump down from it, since she wanted to be visible - it was her life insurance. The last element, air, took its time to get back to her, but that was nothing new.

So Korra had only waterbending at her disposal, but no water in sight, not even plants to drain it from. She tried finding Blue or other waterbenders in the marching soldiers, because she needed a water pouch, but was not able to make any of them out in the darkness. There was really only one choice.

"Stop it", she yelled and bended Mayor Oyabun's body into the air for all of them to see, "one step closer and he gets it." Iroh halted his men with one gesture, his face was flabbergasted.

"She… she's bloodbending", the mayor screamed unnecessarily, because everyone could clearly see what she was doing. But at least it stopped his soldiers, who had a terrified expression.

"You think bloodbending is scary", Korra calmly said, but the eerie calm in the mountain pass made her voice clearly audible to both armies, "try a bloodbending Avatar."

There was a long silence.

"You really want to fight us", Korra threatened loudly, and laughed when she saw some of Yi's soldiers take a step back.

"Ready the tank", Oyabun ordered, "shoot her!"

Korra was so shocked she let him fall to the ground. When she focused on the tank, she saw it taking aim. She knew the munition would go right through her and hit the soldiers behind. "No", was her only thought when her eyes started to glow a bright white.


	36. An Evening on the Couch

It was still way before sundown in Saki's cottage, when Qiang told Tara one of his stories inspired by real life. The child sat on the man's sofa bed in her pyjamas, while he was still wearing the parts of his uniform that were cloth and not metal.

"So the big monster named Lin that was the master of all knights said: 'You work for me until you drop dead. You get no break, and you work from sunrise till sundown.' And the poor landscaper prince did not know what to do and how he would find a princess, since the good girls are always in bed by sundown." The policeman gave the little girl a wink, and she nodded with a bright smile and pulled the blanket closer. "But he had a really clever idea - when he was patrolling the castle, he would just talk to the princesses there. But he had no luck with them. One hit him in the face. Another told him she only liked… cats." Qiang looked confused at his own words, but not as confused as Tara. He suddenly felt the need to check with Asami, but the engineer was brooding over some circuit diagrams.

"Cats", the girl questioned.

"Yes", he had to save the situation somehow, "she had a cat. And he was sleeping in her bed and eating from her plate and drinking from her cup and so she had no place for the prince." Tara appeared to think that was a good explanation. "And another princess walked with him for many days, but decided she'd rather date a jester than a knight. Oh, that's how the landscaper prince met princess Asami, as well. Come to think of it, I think she was the one with the cat."

Asami had looked up at the mention of her name, and was now as confused as the other two at the notion that she evidently had a feline of some sort.

Tara had another problem: "Why don't your stories have a happy end?"

The policeman looked at her for some long moments, thinking. "Because you always fall asleep before that", he finally explained meekly.

"Will this one end well?"

Qiang thought long about that question, too. Finally he shifted uncomfortably and decided: "Sure. One day the prince's commander Mako made a mistake. They could not find a girl quickly enough, and so of course the prince took the fall for it, and was forced to protect the girl from thereon after. And first he thought it would be very bad, but he started to like the girl, and they became friends."

Tara lit up at that. "Really? Was she a princess, too?"

"Yeah, actually I think she was, for some strange reason. At least her mother was. So she must have been a princess to the Northern Kingdom, too." Qiang laughed when the girl yawned and settled deeper into the sheets.

"Did they get married", Tara questioned already half asleep.

"No! No, no, no", Qiang's upset denial was a bit harsher than he had wanted to, it made the child sit up again, "it was not like that. The little princess was just a girl. But you know the prince learned something from her: you don't need to marry a prince or a princess to be happy."

"That's not really a happy ending", Tara pouted at him.

He smiled awkwardly at her. "Because there's no wedding? But that's life, Kat."

"No, that's no life, it's a story", the child shook her head defiantly, "let me tell the story." She made a pause to think for a moment. "So the landscraper prince was friends with the girl. And the girl had a mom. And the mom was a queen. And the dad was dead. And so since the prince played with the girl, he saw the mom, he fell in love with her. And the mom with him. And they married and became a happy family. The end."

Qiang looked at her, and somehow he was getting incredible sad. Yes, he had become friends with the girl without ever meaning to; but even though he was in love with her mother (at least one of them), she would never choose him over her current lover. He pulled himself together after some moments to mumble feebly: "I don't think you need to have a prince and a princess and a kid to be happy."

"But you do", Tara was insistently nodding at that.

"You're happy, and you don't even have a dad."

"But I have you!"

Again the policeman looked like he was slapped in the face, but this time his gaze and Asami's met, since the engineer had been following the conversation after the last awkward silence. "Uh… I'm going", he stated and pointed to the doorway, then stood up and walked out, giving the pair of mother and daughter some time.

Asami sighed and shuffled to the sofa, seating herself next to her daughter. She cleared her throat before she asked: "Are you missing your parents?"

Tara shrugged, since she did not know how to answer the question. The probable answer was that she was not remembering much of her biological parents. "I want to have a dad again", she mumbled.

Asami's heart stopped when she heard that. "Bu-but you have Korra", she said, falling over her own words, "gran gran says she's acting just like her daddy. If you're missing something, just tell us."

Tara leaned against her mother and hugged her, since she was able to sense she was hurting her. The child spoke into Asami's side when she answered: "Mommy's no man. Daddy's are men."

"No, she is not", Asami admitted, trying to figure out what to tell her child, "but there is nothing we could do about it. And you still have your grandpa. And we want you to meet my father soon, too."

Tara's head shot up at that: "Your mommy too?"

Her mother rubbed the child's back and looked out of the window: "No, my mommy died when I was a little older than you."

"And why didn't your daddy visit us", the girl asked, leaning against her mother again.

Asami sighed and took her time to think about a good answer. She had always known she had to explain that one day. She just had hoped it would not be the day her mind was occupied with worrying for Korra. "He made some mistakes", she mumbled, "he hurt some innocent people, and he's in jail now."

Tara cuddled with Asami for a while and tried to process the information. The child's eyes were threatening to fell shut when Asami decided to add to the other subject: "Tara, we really love you, but we are stuck with each other."

"I love you, too." Asami was shocked and looked at the child who had fallen asleep at her side. She reiterated Tara's words a few times until she was sure she had understood right. Tara had never told either of them she loved them. It was nothing they had pressed, but they had noticed it anyways.

When it finally sank in, a dumb smile sneaked her way across her face, and she fell back into the sofa. She could not wait to tell Korra. For some reason she feared that the Avatar would be jealous that she was not present.

Asami had her eyes closed for maybe two minutes when she heard Qiang rushing up the stairs to their flat so fast it felt like the ground was shaking.

"Sami", he screamed, and fell to the floor after the door, where he used some moments to bend his police uniform onto his body. When she just looked at him with a confused expression, he jumped to his feet and scrambled to her side, pulling her from the sofa and towards the window.

Her heart dropped for another time and her mouth opened without being able to make a sound. The mountain the war was about was split in two parts, and apparently the two parts were still moving in different directions.

An earthquake sweep Qiang and Asami off their feet and startled the half asleep Tara, who started to cry in fear.

When they were standing again, Asami saw something even more frightening - there was a giant bright red snake moving down the mountain towards the city of Lu.

"Lava", she whispered, and probably would have stood there another minute or two to gape at the sight, when Qiang grabbed her hand and pulled her to the sofa, where he picked up Tara and ran with them towards the stairs and down to the ground-floor.

Another earthquake shook the cottage, and they suddenly remembered their host. Qiang cursed, shoved the child into Asami's arms and pushed her towards the exit.

"Out", he yelled at her, and hurried into the rooms of the old lady, carrying her out of the house bridal style. They were just reunited at the gate of the property when the ground shook again and forced them to their knees.

Asami still kneeled on the ground with a crying Tara clenched tightly to her upper body, when the dimension of the situation hit her - there was no lava trickling down the mountain between Yi and Xun. The crack separating the two newly created mountain tops was still extending, and the lava was at the bottom of it. And the bad part was - the gap in the ground was moving towards Lu, as evident from the shaking ground.

But when Qiang pushed Asami to get her attention, another thought forced itself into her mind, and she voiced it without thinking about it.

"Korra is up there… we have to get her out."


	37. The Escape

"Sami, you can't be serious", Qiang was furious with his protégée and showed it, while he put Saki back on her feet, "you're not going up that mountain! Beifong will kill me if I let something happen to you, and I don't even want to imagine what Korra would do."

"But", Asami started, trying hard not to let her emotions take over, "she can't even bend. She's entirely helpless up there."

Her bodyguard looked at her confused, then at the two mountain tops: "You don't think it's her way of preventing the war?"

Asami's eyes widened as she followed his gaze. "No, she can't…", she babbled while she staggered to her feet, "... something terrible must have happened."

"I don't want to alarm you or anything, but there is crack in the ground coming towards us", Saki said in an alarmed voice, pointing a shaking arm in the general direction of the mountain.

Qiang linked arms with the old woman to support her and pulled with his other hand on Asami: "Come on, I need to get you and Tara in safety."

The engineer was not convinced this was the right idea, but allowed him to pull herself and her daughter in the direction of the station, where every resident of Lu was headed right now.

Suddenly a ghost flickered in front of them - it was Jinora. "Ba… Se… Tal", the spiritual projection said while she appeared and vanished alternately. She repeated it a moment later: "Ba Sing… Hos…"

"Jinora, what is it", Asami questioned in shock. Something terrible had happened to Korra, that much was clear.

"Ba Sing Se Hospital", came the last words of the airbender master, and then her ghost vanished, while they saw the house directly next to Saki's fall into a big stream of lava.

"I'm going back", Asami's statement did not tolerate backtalks, "Saki, would you mind taking Tara with you to the station, I'll catch up to you."

It was impressive that Tara was even able to listen to her mother, while the child was crying and the people around them were screaming, but she did, and she started wailing louder.

"Don't go", she almost screeched when her mother put her down.

"You're not going", Qiang rephrased the child's plea.

"It'll just take a minute", Asami stated and started running back towards the cottage, with her bodyguard on her heels.

"Get back", he screamed after her, "I'm not going after you! You're nuts!" Regardless of his words, the two of them ran up the hill together.

The engineer had to stop when there was a big tear in the ground, even though this one was not filled with lava. She walked some steps back to take a run-up.

"Cover me", Asami yelled when she ran towards the crack, and Qiang had hardly the time to figure out what she meant, when he catapulted her with some earthbending into the air so she would safely land on the other side of the crack.

The problem with that approach was that he now stood on the wrong side of the tear, and Asami ran quickly. He lost sight of her while he was still not sure if he should follow her if that meant risking his life like that.

When she was gone for some minutes and did not return, he kicked the ground hard and cursed.

"Language", he heard a familiar voice and turned around in terror.

"Tara", he yelled at the child, who was wiping her tired, tear filled eyes.

"Where's mom", she asked, and his face fell, which made her start crying again. Without thinking all too much, he bended down and picked her up, hugging her tightly.

"Don't worry, she said she'll come." He had just said the words, when he heard the humming of the military vehicle Korra had used the previous days. When it came into view, they saw it was Asami driving it.

"Bridge", the woman screamed and Qiang dropped Tara to the ground because he already saw Asami driving the Satomobile into the crack in his mind's eye.

The man took a stance and just knew it would take all his strength to create a bridge for the heavy car, with the ever-present earthquakes nonetheless. He suddenly felt Tara punch him into the hip and was about to yell at her when she heard her voice over the sound of crashing houses. "Sitting turtleduck!"

He quickly readjusted his weight and bended the bridge, and Asami took the cue to drive the vehicle over it. He barely held all that weight up, but luckily had no time to ponder what would have happened if Tara had not corrected his stance.

"Get in here, now", Asami ordered while she held the door open for them, and they quickly obeyed.

"Did you short-circuit the car", Qiang questioned still very shaken from what was going on, but the woman flashed him a quick smile.

"Didn't need to, Korra always stores the keys under the sun visor", she answered while she rounded a corner with screeching tires, "she thinks no one is going to steal the Avatar's car." Qiang did not feel the need to challenge the question how anybody could possible know that this was the Avatar's car.

Suddenly the Satomobile came to an abrupt halt, and Asami almost flew out of the car door with a single word: "Saki!"

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry, I lost your daughter...", the old woman started to explain, but then saw the child sitting in the vehicle and sighed in relief.

"Get in, we'll drive you to the station", Asami decided, and helped Saki into the Satomobile as well. It was getting really crowded at that point. The vehicle only had a bench made for three people in the front, and not even backseat. There was a small landing in the back where a spare tire and an ammunition box resided, but this car was only made for moving high ranking officers, not entire groups of people.

When they were driving again, this time slower since they were getting in areas where more and more escapees gathered, Asami questioned: "Do you have anyone you can take shelter with?"

"Yes, my children, but all my money is still in my house", the old woman explained tearily and looked through the back window with everyone who was not driving. The lava lake was expanding, and there was a good chance the cottage was gone by now.

Asami leaned over to open the glove compartment, finding it utterly empty. She quietly cursed at Korra and her bad habit of not taking money with her.

"Qiang, give her your wallet", Asami stated, seeing as the policeman was the only one who was still wearing his regular clothes. The man frowned at the request, but got his wallet out.

"No, I'm not going to take all your money", Saki said and waved her arms in front of her, when Qiang removed his police badge from his wallet, before handing it over.

"It's fine, really", he told her and gave her a small smile.

The old lady just pressed him and Tara against her body and mumbled a heartfelt thanks when Asami stopped again: "We're at the station. If anything goes wrong, you are always welcomed to stay with us at the Sato Mansion in Republic City."

The farewell was short and Asami was speeding out of the city only seconds later.

"Where… where are we going", Qiang questioned after some minutes.

Asami groaned at that stupid interruption and looked at him angrily: "Did you not listen? Jinora said Ba Sing Se Hospital. That's where we're going!"

"Just because Ba Sin Sei is in the East, and you're driving West."

The engineer turned without ever slowing down, which produced big tracks in the meadow next to the street and pressed Qiang and Tara against the window.

They drove for a long while in silence.

"Mom?"

Asami looked at Tara as if she had just now realized that the child was sitting next to her. And with that realization came the shock that she would probably have lost the child somewhere along the line if her bodyguard had not taken care of her. She was a terrible mother.

"Yes, sweetie", she forced a smile on her face to appear nice and inviting - but in the darkness illuminated by only the full moon she looked really creepy.

"Is mommy okay", Tara questioned.

Asami sighed. She knew she should not lie to the child, so she said the one thing she could: "I really, really hope so."

* * *

><p>"Should I drive for a bit", Qiang offered when the sun started to rise. They were still driving, and he had slept for a bit, while Tara was still curled up next to him and was snoring softly.<p>

Asami on her side of the car looked as if she had not moved a muscle since the man had closed his eyes, and she was determined starring the road down.

"I remember how you drive, we'd take forever until we got to Ba Sin Sei", she answered in a slow voice.

"But at least we'd get there in one piece", he countered, watching the engineer with worry, "the last thing Korra needs right now is you and Tara crashing."

She did not react to his words, but at the next possible opportunity she stopped the car and switched sides with him, and now had the calming feeling of her daughter clinging to her side.

"Hey Qiang", she said, closing her eyes, so she was not able to see him look at her confused, "thanks for your help. I think you saved our lives multiple times last night."

"Don't worry about it, Sami", he answered with a smirk she could hear, "but you should worry about me giving all my money away to some old lady."

"Didn't think you were greedy", she mumbled tersely, her tired body was trying to overpower her.

"I'm not, but we have no money with us, I have no idea how you want to buy...", he started to explain, but when he looked over, he saw that he could stop talking, since Asami had finally fallen asleep.


	38. Living Will

When they stepped into the hospital, they felt everyone staring at them and for the first time realized how they were dressed. Tara was still in her pyjamas, and Asami wore comfortable, but not very ladylike trousers and one of Korra's blue shirts (because she had thought the smell would calm her nerves when she went to bed without her girlfriend). Both were missing their shoes. The silver lining was that Asami had still not removed Korra's necklace for the night, else it might have been gone for good. Together with Qiang in his police uniform they looked probably rather silly.

Asami did not care much for that, she rushed to the front desk and slammed her fist on the wood to get the attention of the nurse: "Where's Korra?"

"Avatar Korra", the nurse questioned and seeing her name tag, the engineer had no choice but to think Korra would have gotten a kick out of her, since her name was actually Lee, and the Avatar had a knack for calling people that.

When Asami nodded at the last question, the nurse got out some form from of the desk, writing something: "Are you family?"

"Yes", Asami answered quickly and tugged on the betrothal necklace, "her wife."

Lee looked at her for some seconds, then started to laugh: "Haha. Good one."

"Then I'm her sister", Asami quickly corrected, she did not care much for what she had to do at the moment, she was so close to seeing Korra and she was sure she would even use force if she had to.

"And your sister gave you a betrothal necklace", Lee had evidently recognized the necklace, and was just refusing to acknowledge the implication. Or maybe she did even that, and was now just being mean.

"Her daughter", Asami questioned, even though the nurse was not really listening to her, "I heard people do that, handing down these necklaces from mother to daughter." She remembered that Katara gave hers to Kya, a reminder of a long dead love.

"I'm really sorry", Lee stated, reading over some of her documents, "Avatar Korra is really popular, but sadly, in critical condition, we can't just let anybody in there. It's family only."

"But she is not popular enough for you to know she lives with a woman", Asami snarled and realized she was breaking at that point. She had always taken pride in the fact that she could talk her way out of any situation, but now with Korra's life on the line she was reduced to a rambling pile. Since the nurse did not react, the engineer added: "Could you please go talk with somebody treating her. She has a living will with her stating that she wants to see me."

"Must have burned off", Lee mumbled, not really engaging in the conversation.

It was getting worse and worse. First Korra was in critical condition, now some document she had on her body was evidently burned off. How exactly was Asami to stay calm and relaxed that way? She needed some way to prove who she was.

She shuffled back to the waiting area, where Qiang had taken a seat and Tara was playing with some toys, annoying the other patients. Asami did not care. For the first time in her life she actually wanted to be recognized by random strangers on the street.

As Korra had stated, newspaper were scarce outside of Republic City. But Ba Sin Sei was a pretty big city, and while it was probably to expensive to deliver the newspapers to the city, it might be lucrative to print them out here. Asami had to find one of the Republic City magazines that had reported about them, and she started right there, in the big pile of paper in the waiting room.

"What are you doing", Qiang stated, "are you giving up? Are we going to wait by the entrance until Korra either walks out or they carry her out on a stretcher?"

Asami gave him an icy glance that made him believe it was not entirely coincidental that she had taught Tara how to icebend.

After some frantic searching, the engineer groaned when she found the one copy that actually had her face in it. Since beggars should not be choosers, she walked back to the front desk and slammed the newspaper in front of the nurse.

Of course, it had to be the Elemental Times, more precise the one with the headline "LIAR, LIAR! Avatar misleads world about inappropriate relationship to Future Industries' CEO".

"That's me. Asami Sato", Asami stated, pointing to one of the photographs.

"So now you're the famous Asami Sato", the nurse stated and stood up to inspect the woman in front of her head to toe: messy hair, no makeup, blue dirty shirt, not matching baggy red trousers, no shoes.

"I was just about to go to bed when the mountain between Yi, Xun and Lu exploded, and I've driven the entire night, and now I really want to see my wife", Asami was close to shouting at the woman, but was barely holding on.

Lee did not react to her outburst for some moments, but only looked at her in shock. "You know what, I'm sorry", she finally mumbled, "but there is no way for me to get away with letting you visit Avatar Korra."

Asami stood there defeated, with no idea how to overcome the hurdle, when a female soldier approached the desk and saluted.

"Lieutenant Kyoshi of the United Forces, infantry", she stated tersely, "I'm the Avatar's sister, I want to see her."

The nurse eyed her suspiciously, but the soldier was lucky to have dark skin. Lee searched for a document, and when she found it, she smiled.

"You've been here before! So you know the drill: sign here, and she's in 101", the nurse stated and slid the paper over the table for the soldier to sign.

"Lieutenant Kyoshi", Lee questioned when she took the form back, then pointed with her head towards Asami, "do you know this woman?"

The soldier looked Asami over with visible distaste and shook her head, then left to visit Korra.

"You do realize Korra is an only child", Asami questioned after a while of standing around uselessly.

Nurse Lee just shrugged: "I don't argue with military people."

Asami groaned when she sat down in the waiting area next to Qiang. She only needed some moments, after that she would know exactly what to do. But after summarizing what the problem was (and how that stupid military chick had just sneaked in to see Korra), Qiang had an idea, and he took Tara with him to try his luck.

"Officer Qiang, Republic City Police Department", he told the nurse on the front desk with a smile and showed his police badge, "I have my orders to guard the Avatar's daughter." He picked Tara up and sat her on the desk, which would have earned protests if it were any other child, but the little girl was just too cute, and that her face was all puffy and teary eyed even helped some more.

"Aren't you a cute little girl", nurse Lee cooed and almost intuitively started wiping the child's face with some handkerchief, "you look just like your mother."

"She wants to see her mom", Qiang explained, and Tara corrected him with a "my mommy", which made him hit her lightly.

Lee looked at Tara, then at the police officer, then back: "Are you sure? Avatar Korra got hurt pretty badly."

Qiang nodded solemnly, even though he could see Tara starting to tear up at that. Maybe that was not the best of ideas.

"So what's your name", Lee questioned, and the girl answered, so the nurse filled out the next line on the visitor document. Suddenly she frowned and addressed the policeman: "Wait, you're not her legal guardian? I don't think I can let little Katara in without one of those."

Qiang pointed at Asami, who was sitting with her eyes closed trying hard not to cry, when he stated: "You see that lady over there? With the mismatched clothes and the missing shoes? She's the guardian."

"Really", Lee was clearly not amused, "she already claimed to be the Avatar's wife and THE Asami Sato."

"You really should follow the news more closely, because she's all of these things", Qiang answered with a laugh.

"Just let her sign here", the nurse stated tersely and held the form for him to bring to Asami, and he did.

"How did you do it", Asami was baffled when she signed her name on a line that stated her daughter was going to visit Korra, and Qiang shrugged proudly.

* * *

><p>"Just wait out there for a moment", Asami told the other two when they had finally managed their way to 101, the room Korra was in. The policeman nodded and led Tara away.<p>

The child protested: "But I wanna see her, too!" And he explained something to her Asami could not understand, because she was concentrating on what she found once she opened the door. Would Korra be awake, would she be sleeping? Would she have bandages all around her, maybe even a cast? The nurse had said she was burned, so would she even look like Korra? Horrible images of burn victims flashed before Asami's eyes, and made her stall even longer.

But she knew there was only one way to find out, so she took a deep breath and opened the door.

The first thing she saw was _her_, since her red military clothes really attracted attention. And the second thing she realized only a second later was: The soldier was holding Korra's hand in a loving manner.

Lieutenant Kyoshi had turned around when she heard the door, and now both women were staring at each other in shock: "You! What are you doing here?!"


	39. Jealousy

Of all the emotions Asami thought she would have when entering Korra's room, jealousy was not one she had expected. But it had hit her the minute she entered the room, seeing the soldier sitting next to Korra, with the Avatar's hand in hers, stroking her arm lovingly.

"Who are you", it was the engineer that broke the silence during their staring match first, and the woman in front of her frowned.

"I'm Lieutenant Kyoshi, her sister", the soldier repeated, making Asami cross the arms in front of her chest.

"She has no sister!"

Kyoshi staggered to her feet and turned around, her back to the lying person. She was probably just now figuring out that the other woman actually knew the Avatar.

"Okay, I'm not her sister. But we spent the last days together, I was with her when she was blown up, and I tried healing her burns", the soldier quietly explained, looking at her feet. Then her gaze followed Asami when she walked around the room to finally take a look at her girlfriend; Kyoshi seemed ready to strike the intruder down any minute now: "So who are you?"

Asami could not focus on the answer when she saw Korra. At least the Avatar looked a lot better than she had feared, but she was covered head to toe in bandages, and where her skin showed, like in her face and on her hands, it was covered in bruises and red. The woman had her eyes closed, and from the tubes it appeared she was not conscious. As sad as that was, it was not alarming on his own - Korra had a bit of a tendency to pass out. Some people just had that happen to them more than others.

"Who are you", Kyoshi repeated the question now a second time, waving her hand in front of Asami so she would finally react.

With a confused expression the engineer looked at the soldier, and stated tersely: "Asami, I'm…"

"Oh! The best friend", Kyoshi seemed more relieved than she should be, and that she bobbed slightly up and down at her words was entirely unnecessary, too.

Asami looked at the other woman in bafflement - she only knew one reason why someone would repudiate his spouse, and she really doubted Korra would do such a thing. So why would the Avatar tell anyone she was just a friend? Maybe this woman was really close-minded.

"Yes, best friend", Asami finally nodded at that, and watched Kyoshi sit down again and start patting Korra's hand, "is she conscious?"

"No, not yet", Kyoshi answered without looking at the other woman, "but I don't think she is in immediate danger, she just didn't wake up yet." She made a short pause. "But I'm no healer, so what do I know?"

"Didn't you just say you healed her", Asami asked, now doubting everything the strange woman said.

The soldier tugged at her red clothes and rolled her eyes when Asami would not recognize them: "I'm infantry! I learned how to heal like every good little Northern Water Tribe girl, but it's not my specialty."

Asami wanted to ask another question, when they heard a knock on the door.

"Sami", Qiang questioned in front of the door, "Kat really wants to see her." Asami quickly moved in front of the door and kneeled down to the child.

"Sweetie, Korra looks really bad, and she is still asleep. Do you really want to see her?"

"Yes, please", the child shifted from one naked feet to another. Asami nodded and picked Tara up, and together with Qiang they entered the room.

"Uhh", the policeman had a weirded out expression when he saw another woman holding Korra's hand, but his efforts to get Asami to react to that were in vain. The mother just stood with the child at the foot of the bed and let Tara take a look.

"What happened to mommy", the girl questioned.

Kyoshi's eyebrows shot up at this, and she looked at the child with a puzzled expression. "That's her daughter", she asked, "uh, I always figured she was older, or younger." The soldier blushed when she looked away. "I didn't know what to think, I never figured Korra for the mommy type."

"She's not", Tara explained what she had learned the previous evening, "she's the daddy."

Asami laughed at that, and Kyoshi's eyes got wider. Nodding at Qiang, who stood silently in some corner, she questioned: "So he's the mommy?"

"No", both Asami and her bodyguard stated vehemently, while Tara patted her mother's arm.

"Asami's the mom", the girl stated at the same time, in a kind of voice as if that was obvious.

Kyoshi was rubbing her forehead at that, and then looked at each of the persons in front of her before she repeated: "So who are you guys? And don't tell me you're best friends again because having children together is nothing best friends do."

Asami had enough of all of this: "Okay, first could you please remove your hand from Korra's?" The soldier did just that and used the free hand to cross her arms defensively.

"So you are _smooching_", Kyoshi said with a laugh and lightly brushed Korra's arm with a fist when she talked to the unconscious person: "Respect, Rainbow, you really took the best pick of the litter."

"Still standing right next to you", Asami stated with an annoyed expression, having cupped Tara's ears with her shoulder and the arm not holding her.

"Could you maybe tell us what happened", Qiang evidently did not like the being patient stuff any more than the Avatar did, and just maybe he wanted to deflect the awkward discussion.

Kyoshi started to explain: "These _jerks_ wanted to fire the _flipping _tank at us, so Korra went all glowy and stood in the way of the _freaking_ projectiles, and with our firebenders she was able to deflect them pretty well. So then they start attacking like the _crazy bad people _they are, even though Korra is a _darned _bloodbender. So since she already was in the Avatar state, she started splitting the _dratted_ mountain, and then there was lava everywhere and when we thought there would not be any war at all, since there was no _stupid_ border anymore, they started shooting the _flipping_ tank again and I guess this time the explosion caught her by surprise, and she was burned to a crisp." (Neither of the words was what she actually said, but some child-friendly versions. You are not missing anything.)

"Could you maybe stop cursing so much", Asami questioned, since she had her child's head in some kind of headlock between her shoulder and hand, so that the kid would not be able to hear all the bad words. The problem was that Tara really wanted to know what happened, and was struggling like crazy.

Kyoshi did not react to the interjection, but continued talking: "So I tried healing her while one of the airbenders flew us here on her flying cow. She tried contacting somebody, I guess you, and since you're here, it probably worked."

"Where are the airbender children", Asami's question was out of her mouth before she knew it.

"The two little ones went to help the people of Lu evacuate, and I think the big one went there, too, after she dropped Korra off."

There was a short silence, where Asami let go of Tara's ears and translated to her what had happened to her mother. As expected, the child was shocked, but she tried to be brave.

"Are you and Korra lovers", Qiang questioned, which made Asami almost kill him with her gaze alone, but the bodyguard thought he had nothing to lose, but a lot to gain from the question.

The soldier looked at Korra as if she regretted something when she answered: "Is she usually that fast?"

"It took us four years to hold hands properly", Asami stated, with way more schadenfreude in her voice than she cared to admit, "so you'd probably need a decade to go to lovers."

"No reason to caterwaul at me, kitten", Kyoshi huffed, "Rainbow never told me she had a girlfriend."

And the jealousy was back full force. The idea that this Kyoshi girl was close-minded was off the table, and there still was the fact that Korra had evidently told her they were just friends. On the other hand, Asami could imagine a conversation where the soldier would plain out say she wanted to _smooch_ and the Avatar would still not get that she was flirted with.

"Did she call mommy 'Rainbow'", Tara questioned while wriggling out of her mothers arms, "that's a weird name."

"It's an inside joke", Kyoshi stated with a spiteful grin, "I call her Rainbow, she calls me Blue."

"You realize I know her uniform", Asami countered, and tried calculating if she would be able to win a fight against an United Force's soldier only in her pyjamas - she thought no, but if that woman did not learn how to shut up soon, she would try it anyways. "Also, you're not the first 'Blue'. She only remembers important names."

Tara was standing next to Qiang, and knocked on the metal of his uniform, so he would kneel down to her. When he did, she whispered: "Why are they so angry which each other?"

The bodyguard smirked: "Just try to not get in the way. I get the feeling they'll need us soon to prepare some mud to wrestle in." The child liked that prospect, since she really loved playing in the mud.

"Where is her uniform anyways", Asami questioned, now taking a look under Korra's blanket, "or her other clothes?" She did not voice it, but there was still the mystery of the missing living will left.

Kyoshi laughed at her: "Whaddaya think? She got shot by a _flipping_ tank!"

The engineer looked at her girlfriend more closely, and now realized that her hair looked singed. At least there was still some left, someone must have extinguished her pretty quickly, but she did not feel like being grateful for that.

"Most of her clothes burned off", Kyoshi explained with backhanded grin, "there was still some fabric left, of course. Like on her elbow. Or here." The soldier showed places on her own body where the fabric had been, none of which Asami particularly cared for being covered.

The engineer suddenly realized she did not need to win a fight against the woman, she probably just needed to land a good punch in her stupid face to feel better. She had never been that jealous in her life, but honestly probably because that was the first time a _woman_ had shown interest in the Avatar.

"Lieutenant, Sir", Qiang questioned meekly, not having catched the other woman's name, but being able to read the symbols on her uniform. Kyoshi looked at him confused. "Since you are a friend of Korra's…" Asami huffed at that. "...would you mind lending us some money? We just escaped from Lu and we have nothing left."

Kyoshi looked at him, then angrily at Asami, then at Korra; finally she just shrugged: "Sure, we can share what the airbender girl left me." When she saw the engineer's peeved face, she added: "Because I was covered in the blood of your _girlfriend_ and really needed to get cleaned up." The women stared each other down. "Well, it's in my hotel room, I just can't find a purse to match the uniform."

"I'm not leaving her", Asami stated, "the way this hospital works they'll let five random soldiers visit Korra until they let me in again."

"But I'm hungry", Tara interrupted walking over to her mom and tugging on her clothes.

"What do you say I take Kat and the Lieutenant and we find something to eat", Qiang suggested, making Kyoshi shrug.

"I thought you needed to guard me at all times", Asami questioned with a frown.

"Just try to stay alive on your own for half an hour", Qiang stated and walked over to take the little girl's hand. There seemed to be no objection, so the three moved to the door.

"Uh, you might want to tell her something", Kyoshi stated as some kind of farewell, "they need her to wake up as soon as possible. They thought something familiar might help. It's just I know nothing of her. And what I know is false, like you two being best friends." Asami looked overwhelmed, in part due to the soldier being helpful all of a sudden. "Just tell her how you guys first kissed or something, get the sappiness out till we get back."

The engineer just blinked confused at the door after it had closed behind the three persons.


	40. First Kiss

Asami needed some moments to overcome the weirdness of talking to someone unconscious, but when she finally she did, she told the story of their first kiss.

* * *

><p>Korra slammed the heavy iron door shut and released a breath she had not realized she was holding. With a grin, she turned to her best friend, who sat on her bed and sported a confused facial expression.<p>

"Korra", Asami questioned, and the addressed girl looked at her with panic in her eyes.

"Yes? It's nothing." The Avatar strutted around the room, her arms nervously hidden behind her back. "I just talked to that Kuhira chick..." She stopped when she heard Asami groan. "...she seems nice?"

"Really, _now_", Asami questioned and let herself fall on the bed, hiding her face behind her hands. They were on an airship, travelling towards Zaheer for their final fight, and it was just like Korra to think about girls _now_. "And her name is Kuvira!"

Korra walked over to the bed and looked down at Asami, grinning widely: "Are you jealous, Sato? We _are _dating, so just say the word and I'll be all yours."

"Shut up." Asami threw a pillow after the Avatar, missing her by inches. "I just think with you dying tomorrow you should have other things on your mind than some girl you just met."

"That's why I'm here", Korra stated and seated herself on the edge of Asami's bed, while the girl lying in it was smiling contently at the implication.

Asami suddenly jerked up and looked at her friend. With a teasing grin, she suggested: "But if you're trying to get lucky tonight, you should probably go to your girlfriend."

"I already am", Korra decided, and after slipping out of her boots, she pushed Asami back and laid down on the bed, her head resting on top of the other girl's arm. She sighed happily.

Both just laid there without saying a word, staring at the ceiling. After a long while, Asami shifted uncomfortably. "My arm is going numb."

Korra laughed at her; without lifting her head, she turned to face her friend and said: "And I'm going to die tomorrow. Deal with it."

A huff from Asami was the response, then the engineer said: "Then you better really die, so my arm's sacrifice is not in vain."

Korra stood up at this, and for a moment Asami thought the teasing might have been to much, until she heard the Avatar's voice: "I'm going and I'll leave you to the horrors of _that _being your last words to me."

Indeed that sounded horrific to Asami, so she jumped to her feed and followed the Avatar, whirled her around and pressed her back against the door. The Water Triber grinned at her when she struggled to find the right words: "N-no Korra, I don't want that to be my last words." Asami was now wetting her lips without realizing it, which made it hard for Korra to focus on something else than her mouth. "I want my last words to be something like: 'Congratulations on your 100th great-grandchild! Now you can die in peace.'"

"Uh-uh", Korra was shifting in Asami's grasp, trying to break free, "you do realize I won't be having children? Still into girls, thanks for asking."

"Sorry", Asami sighed, then plastered another smile on her face: "It could be your last words to me…?"

"You want to have 100 great-grandchildren", Korra questioned with a laugh, still staring at the other woman's lips. Luckily for her, Asami was staring at some point next to her face.

"Well, if I had five kids, and each had five children as well, then all of my twenty five grandchildren would only need to have four kids each…", the engineer calculated, and when she thought, she licked her lips again. It made Korra realized how close they stood, their bodies pressed against each other, since Asami's entire goal was to prevent the Avatar from leaving.

Suddenly the Water Triber shoved her friend off of her. When Asami just looked at her with confusion, she stated angrily: "That's not funny. You know how I feel about you. And then you're all close and you keep wetting your lips like you want to kiss me."

Asami laughed and folded her arms in front of her: "Now you're imagining things. And I told you: If you want to make out or something, just go to Kuvira. She was staring at you the entire day."

"She was", Korra's spirits were suddenly lifted, and she looked at the door, pondering if the metalbender was worth her time. Asami's heart dropped at that. Suddenly the Avatar smiled at her in an unusual calm and serene way: "No, I told you, you're the first real girl friend I had. That's much more important than a fling."

"And I told you that 'girl friend' does not mean what you think it does", Asami countered, now laughing again.

"Which part are you objecting to", Korra asked lightheartedly and sat back down on the bed, "the girl part or the friend part?"

"I just don't want you to tell the next Avatar I was your girlfriend", Asami answered only half jokingly, when she climbed back on her bed to sit next to her best friend.

"By the time I get to tell them that, there will be 100 little Satos running around", Korra said and leaned against the other girl, closing her eyes.

"If you die tomorrow then I'll only have what? 16 years", Asami asked, "that's going to be a real challenge." Both fell silent after that for a long time.

"You think there are other Avatars who died as an old maid", Korra suddenly questioned without opening her eyes.

Asami took a good look at her best friend and saw a faint blush crossing her cheeks. "Don't worry", she told her, which could be considered a lie, since she had no idea at all what she was talking about, "for instance I never heard of Avatar Kyoshi having a husband. And wasn't she the really old one?" Korra sighed in response. "But most importantly: you're not 'old'." The Avatar grew ridig at that, evidently the teasing did not help her. "For someone who is going to face a crazy anarchist in the morning you have a weird train of thought."

Another sigh. "It's just, my whole life is flashing before my eyes, and I can't help but feel conflicted that the only kisses where I didn't get slapped were with Mako."

Asami laughed, even though it was actually not funny, but sad. "I have to tell you, since Mako was just a celebrity crush to you and you managed to steal him from his very gorgeous girlfriend, you can actually be proud of yourself."

"You are gorgeous", Korra agreed with a content smile, "and amazing. I _am _proud to have known you. Even if just as a friend."

"You're not dead yet", Asami reminded her, and draped her arm around her best friend's shoulders, "don't talk about yourself in the past!" Korra sighed, but did not answer and again both were at loss for words.

"Korra? I kind of lied to you."

The Avatar sat up at that and looked at Asami in shook. Her face clearly stated that she had rather not known that she was being lied to.

"I thought about kissing you earlier." Korra blinked in confusion. "Actually, I thought about it ever since our last date."

This time the silence was awkward. "But…", the Avatar questioned with a frown.

"But I am afraid. What if somebody found out? What if it doesn't feel right? I don't want to hurt you any more."

"I'm dying tomorrow anyways", Korra stated and her trademark lopsided grin appeared when she looked around the small room, "and I don't see anyone around."

"I know", Asami stated and smirked at her best friend with reddening cheeks.

"So…", the Avatar was now scooting closer to her friend, her smile was getting wider.

There faces were almost touching, but Asami was still hesitant. Luckily, Korra was in no rush, and gave her the time. After taking a big breath, the CEO of Future Industries moved forward, crushing their lips together almost too eagerly.

When they separated a moment after, she had a unidentified expression on her face, making Korra's heart drop. "You didn't like it", she stated sadly, but to her utter surprise, Asami started to laugh.

"No, you were reading that wrong", the engineer stated, "try again." Their whole "knowing what the other thought and felt just from looking at her" act evidently still needed some work.

"So you liked it", Korra guessed, the smug grin re-appearing when Asami nodded. "Now do me!"

"You want to take me out for another date...", Asami read from Korra's determined face, "... a real date with a goodnight kiss… after tomorrow?" The Avatar nodded eagerly. "So dying is of the table?" Korra stuck her tongue out at that. "You don't give a darn about my arm's sacrifice, do you?"

Korra stood up and walked over to where Asami's pillow laid on the ground, picked it up and then jumped back to hit Asami repeatedly with it. The CEO squealed in protest, then fought to get the pillow back. Soon they were wrestling on the creaking bed and giggling as if nothing bad was going to happen to them ever.

A sudden knock interrupted them, and distracting Korra so much she lost the pillow.

"Could you girls keep it down", they heard an embarrassed voice, which lit Korra's face up instantly.

With a big jump she was on the door and opened it with bright enthusiasm: "Dad, she kissed me!" There was a clap.

Tonraq stood in front of the door with a mild blush, as he looked his daughter over in confusion. Korra could not decide if he looked disappointed or just shocked. He glanced into the room and saw Asami sitting on the bed, a pillow on her lap, and evidently her hand had just hit her forehead hard.

It took another moment until what Korra had said sunk in. "That's great", he told his daughter and hit her shoulder in a playful way, "but maybe you should talk to her about stuff first." Korra looked back at her best friend, who nodded eagerly, the red spot clearly visible above her eyes.

"So…", Tonraq started unsure of what to say, "just remember there are other people on this airship that need to sleep." Both girls nodded earnestly. "Goodnight." And with that he closed the door in front of Korra's face.

The Avatar stared at the heavy metal for some moments, then turned around and walked to the bed innocently. "Where were we", she asked with a grin.

"About to go to bed", Asami said, still serious, "you'll need your sleep if you want us to have another date."

Korra stretched and then settled on the mattress next to her friend: "Can't argue with that. Do I get a goodnight kiss today, too?"


	41. The Flipping Healer

"It's so weird to admit", Asami told an unconscious Korra, sitting next to her and holding her hand, "my biggest fear back then was that somebody would overhear you calling me 'girl friend' and get the wrong idea. And now here we are - we lived together for so long, and have a child, and we're finally out to the public, and I'm okay with it. Actually, I think not enough people know about us. You know how hard it was to get in here?"

The engineer sighed in frustration, patting the arm of her girlfriend. "Maybe we should fight the system. I'm sick of being laughed at when I tell them I'm your spouse. And I'm so sick of not being part of your family. And I really want all the important documents to have _our_ names. I don't want to end like Kyoshi. Not that weird soldier who's fancying you, but the Avatar. Nobody even knows she had a wife. And do you know the wife's name? No? Me neither. I don't want that to happen to us."

There was a moment of silence, where Asami realized how stupid she sounded, even to herself. At least nobody was listening. That was when she heard voices approaching the room.

"...really, stargazing", it was the weird soldier, "my parents always used the term 'yoga'." The three of them entered the room at that point, and the two adults grinned at Asami was if they were hiding something. At least Tara looked sated and was cleaned up.

"Oh great", Asami said with distaste, looking at them, "don't tell me you two are friends now." Tara walked over to her mother and pressed some kind of baked goods into her hands, then climbed on her lap to hold Korra's hand as well.

"Still unconscious", Kyoshi asked with worry when she moved to the foot of the bed, while Qiang walked into the corner he liked so much.

"Mommy, wake up", Tara yelled at the lying person and shook her arm violently.

"Katara! You're hurting her", Asami pressed in shock and pulled the child of her girlfriend, when she heard a groan. "Korra", she whispered when she felt the Avatar's hand twitch.

"Arm… hurts… much", the Avatar stated in a raspy voice, which made Kyoshi take the glass from the nightstand and fill it with water. When Korra opened her eyes, she helped her drink.

"Should I try to heal your arm", the soldier questioned after that, and Korra nodded warily at her.

"I wanna heal her, too", Tara decided, but Asami stood up with the child on her arm to make the chair available for the real healer, putting the baked goods onto the nightstand for now.

"No, not today", the mother stated tersely, still remembering how much it had hurt Korra the last time the child tried to help.

While Kyoshi removed some of the bandages without any worry that she was undoing the work of professionals, and started healing the reddened skin, Korra looked around the room with half lidded eyes. Her eyes were not shiny blue as usual, but dull and gray, probably due to heavy medication. She glanced at Tara and Asami for a long time, then moved her fingertips so that she got Kyoshi's attention.

"Hey Blue, who's the lady", she questioned, then had to lick her dry lips.

The adults looked at the Avatar in worry when the soldier answered: "Your girlfriend? Or wife, if the necklace is any indication."

Korra winced in pain and closed her eyes for a moment before saying: "Wife? That's sick!" A collective gasp was the response and the room fell immediately silent.

"Watch your mouth, Avatar, I have documents stating I can pull the plug on you", Asami stated icily, which made the other adults in the room gasp again. Tara however looked the persons over not understanding what was happening.

"You're too much of a coward to hurt me, Sato", Korra answered and opened one of her eyes - they might be imagining things but it almost looked like it was a little more blue than just seconds ago.

"You're pretty full of yourself", Asami stated and put Tara to the ground to walk over to Korra's side, directly opposite to where Kyoshi was now forgetting to heal.

"Jealousy doesn't look good on you", the Avatar grinned weakly and closed her eye again.

"Korra, I swear if you don't shut up I'll suffocate you with your pillow", Asami countered, a evil smirk appearing on her face.

"You've been promising that for eight years."

That was the moment, Kyoshi turned to Qiang with a confused expression and mouthed: "What the _heck _is happening?"

The bodyguard shrugged when he whispered back: "I think it's foreplay. We should get ready to abandon the room." When the two uniformed people turned to the two women, they were glared at.

"How did you even know I wasn't serious", Korra asked Asami trying to open her eyes fully, but failing miserably.

"You're easy to read", Asami stated, taking her girlfriend's hand and squeezing it lightly, "that's why you're such a lousy diplomat."

"Isn't it common courtesy to be nice to people in hospitals", Korra asked, trying to sound smug, but ending up sounding as if she was in pain.

Asami, of course, knew what she said was the last thing the Avatar wanted - she hated the pitiful glances, she hated how people comforted her, she hated that people told her they knew what she was going through when they did not. There was exactly one person, Asami, who was allowed to see Korra weak, everyone else was locked out from her true feelings.

So it was not for the first time that they had teased each other while at Korra's hospital bed, and it would probably not be the last time, either. The Avatar just liked appearing strong, especially if she just wanted to curl into a ball and cry.

"Uh, Rainbow", Kyoshi questioned, and Korra turned her head with her still closed eyes to her, "are you okay?"

The Avatar struggled to open even one eye, but managed a small grin: "You know, next time a tank fires at me I'm going to duck. I feel like my skin is too tight around my body."

"Mommy", Tara was bobbing up and down next to Kyoshi, because she was too small to see her mother in the bed otherwise, "can I heal you? Why can't I heal you? Why can _she _heal you?"

With the girl by her side Korra finally managed to open the second eye, and she raised her arm for some moments, but let it fall back onto the bed since it hurt too much to move. "Because she's a healer, and you're just a rookie", the Avatar stated, "but I promise I'll get hurt pretty soon again and when I don't need to go to the hospital you're the first person who is allowed to heal me."

"Really", Tara questioned, "really really?"

"I'm not a _flipping_ healer", Kyoshi stated angrily, and maybe it was coincidental, but Korra flinched at the same time because something had hurt her.

"But…", the Avatar started, looking utterly confused.

"No, Korra, no buts", Kyoshi answered, "healing is for girls. I'm infantry."

Korra tried again to move the arm that was being healed, this time laying her hand on her stomach, which was as far as her sore muscles allowed. "But you are a girl", she feebly asked, sounding very unsure of the fact.

"That's not the point", Kyoshi huffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest, then suddenly stood up, "you know what? I just stayed with you because there was no one else around to do it. Now that your best friend slash girlfriend slash wife is here, I can get back to the United Forces to do my job."

"Blue?" The soldier did not react to the Avatar's calling, but exited the room without turning around. Korra looked utterly confused: "What's with her?" And then she needed to check something with Asami, even though it took a painfully long time to move her head. "She _is _a girl?"

The engineer was scratching her head at the behavior of Kyoshi, but had to muffle a laugh when she saw Korra's face. The Avatar was acting coy, she of all people, since Kyoshi must have seen a lot of her healing the burns. It was cute, Asami thought, but loudly answered: "I think she is, but she probably had a rough day." Envy did not look good on Kyoshi, either.

"Oh", was all Korra was able to answer for the longest time, until she followed up with: "So since I'm here and can't move because my skin has shrunken: could any of you guys go after her and apologize in my behalf?"

Asami was about to tell her that she did not think her girlfriend even _needed _to feel sorry, when the urge to tease her ex-boyfriend hit: "Qiang, you should go, you were bonding earlier, and you know where her hotel room is."

Korra closed her eyes and rested her head on the pillow, when she happily said: "That's a great idea, let's set them up." When she heard the laughter, she opened her eyes again with a grunt and looked at the other two adults in bafflement.

"Yeah, I totally don't think I'd be her type", Qiang stated with a wide grin.

Korra was about to question what was happening, when a nurse entered: "Visiting time is over, you need to give Avatar Korra some rest." She looked at Korra, a bit surprised. "Is she awake?"

"Yes", Korra said and wiggled the hand where the catheter was inserted, "please, take that thing out. I hate it when you guys poke holes in me." The Avatar had been in the hospital often enough to know each of the procedures - and she knew she did not need to get food and liquid infused if she was awake.

The nurse moved and worked on Korra's hand, removing the catheter. "I'm going to bring you something to eat later." She was just about to leave with the infusion when she saw the other hand of her patient. "Who removed your bandages?"

"A friend. She wanted to heal me."

The nurse did not buy it. "Well, tell 'your friend' that there's no reason to heal you anymore. Your skin is fine. But we assume your internal tissue is still damaged."

"So there's no need for the bandages", Asami questioned.

"Well, no. There is no good reason for them", the nurse said with a forced smile, "we have no idea how to treat burns inside the body. So we used ointments and sterile bandages like we always do." She shrugged at the Avatar. "Healing always makes a medical treatment hard. You should decide for one, not mix and match."

There was a awkward silence for some moments, until Tara butted in: "I think the bandages are important." When everybody looked at her, she mumbled: "Because she's my mummy."


	42. Rivalry

Crisis management was one of Asami's specialties. Where Qiang would have used the little money Kyoshi could lend them to find a hotel room, she used it for a cab to the place of one of her business partners. The old man was surprised, but after hearing what had happened, vouched for her in the bank of Ba Sin Sei. That way she had gotten herself some more money, and they used it to buy a new set of clothes for all of them and a room in the hotel closest to the hospital.

Since Tara again decided she rather wanted to hear Qiang's stories instead of one of her mother (which hurt a lot, but Asami's thoughts were preoccupied with Korra), the engineer was chosen to drop off the stuff they had bought for the Avatar.

When she returned she saw a familiar person sitting at the hotel bar, and she remembered what her girlfriend had asked her to do, so she took a seat next to her.

Asami ordered a drink, because it would be weird not to, and when a glass was set down in front of her she heard her neighbor talk to her: "Woa, are you a bloodbender, because you are bending my m…" The engineer had turned her head in surprise, which made Kyoshi look at her in shock: "You?"

She really tried not to, but Asami was laughing at the soldier: "Where you just hitting on me?"

Kyoshi just shrugged with a blush: "Yes, Sir."

That was the moment the engineers laughter stopped abruptly. The soldier was still wearing the light red uniform trousers, but had cast off her jacket, so she now sat in a muscle shirt that was probably part of her undergarments, since she could not have that much clothes with her. Together with her now open hair (she had sported a bun previously) and the blush she looked a lot younger than before, making Asami realize that what she had told Korra was true: Kyoshi was a girl, because most definitively she was no woman yet. She was probably around Jinora's age, making her 17 or 18 at most.

That raised some questions, namely how she was able to become Lieutenant so fast. Maybe the girl was just really great at what she did, or she had lied about her age to get into the army early, or (and most probable) both.

"I really wish I had your confidence", Asami stated, trying to ease the soldier's mind, "I could never talk to a stranger like that."

Kyoshi shrugged and turned to look at her glass, the blush was still present.

"Korra said she is sorry", the engineer said when she realized the other woman would not answer.

Kyoshi moved to look at her confused: "For what?"

Asami hiked her shoulders; she reworded the answer in her head multiple times, but she could not get it to sound like the soldier was not to blame, so she opted for another approach: "I think I get you, though."

"Yeah, right", Kyoshi huffed and took a big sip of her drink, letting her finger play with the cold glass afterwards.

"I do. Have you ever heard of me, Asami Sato", Asami questioned, and Kyoshi shrugged, "I'm an engineer, but also an accountant, a designer, a mechanic, an inventor…" She trailed of, drawing circles in the air to imply that the list went on. "And I'm okay with people calling me any of these titles, except for one: designer." Kyoshi raised an eyebrow, still not understanding where the discussion was headed. "And for the longest time, I didn't know why I got angry when they started calling me that. Then I realized: It's because designers are usually women. I fought hard to be better than all of the men, so even though it shouldn't be, it's like an insult being called one of the women. So I guess it's the same with you: You don't want to be called a healer, because that's a woman's job, and you're better than that."

Kyoshi gave her a small smile and nodded: "Maybe you _do _get me. Didn't help that I did not even want to be a healer. I wanted to learn how to fight, like my brother. But our father forced me."

"So that's why you ran away from home and went to serve in the army?"

The soldier had a shocked expression and looked around as if she was afraid of people spying on them. "How do you know", she finally whispered, leaning over to Asami so she would be able to understand her.

"I guess wisdom of age", Asami said with a smirk, taking a sip from her drink.

"Are you much older than Rainb- Korra", Kyoshi questioned, frowning at the other woman.

"We're the same age", came the answer, which made the soldier stare at her, since now she had to decide if Korra was much older than she had guessed, or if Asami was younger.

The engineer did not like that these kind of question were starting to multiply. Of course she had realized that Korra aged slower than she did, which had to be some Avatar thing, since Avatar Aang had looked nothing like 66 when he died (at least from the pictures). Ever since they had met, Asami thought for each two years she aged, Korra looked one year older. So by now, people usually thought Asami was about five years older. She had calculated that by the time she was 30, Korra would look to be in her mid 20s. When she got to be 40, her girlfriend would not even look to be 30. By the time she got to be 50, Korra would look like she could be her daughter. And when she would be 60, well, honestly she thought Korra would have left her for someone younger.

"Are you telling me she's too old for me", Kyoshi questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"No, and she's not acting like it either", Asami spoke to quickly, and suddenly her eyes widened when she realized what she had said, "but you really should find someone else anyways."

"You have a really weird way of handling your rivals", the soldier said with a laugh.

The engineer thought about Mako and her rivalry with Korra when she answered: "You don't know half of it."

* * *

><p>"Where have you been", Qiang was worried when Asami finally entered the shared room. The man sat on the sofa, and Tara was sleeping in the bed.<p>

"I was having a drink with Kyoshi down at the hotel bar."

Her bodyguard blinked at her in confusion: "You were out drinking with a woman who is crushing on your girlfriend?" Asami shrugged; for her it made sense, but in his words it just sounded stupid. "Oh, sorry for asking, of course that's totally normal."

"As normal as my ex-boyfriend watching my kid while I'm gone", the engineer questioned with a smirk and seated herself next to him on the sofa, exhausted.

"And as normal as marrying the girl who stole your boyfriend", he added, "or the entire setup at all: the most influential women in the world, who could have every man they desired, dating each other?"

"What's not normal about that", Asami questioned, but laughed, "there's no one else in our league." She winked at him, making him realize that maybe _the_ Miss Sato had one drink too many, at least for spending the night with her ex. "Is it just me, or is it getting less and less awkward between the two of us", the question came out of the blue for the policemen.

"It's okay, I guess. I like your family, and sometimes you remember to reign in the oogie, so…", he answered, waving his hand in the air, "but I'll be a lot happier when I can get back to being Beifong's slave."

"It's great to have friends like you", Asami said and hugged him tightly, making his muscles stiffen and him awkwardly pat the woman's back.

"Yeah, great, isn't it", he said, fidgeting with the words, while she stood up, looking down on him.

"What", Asami questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Just trying to figure out why you'd need a close male friend..."

"And what's your guess", Asami did not really want to know the answer, or maybe she somehow already knew it, and she made no secret of it.

"Maybe you and Korra want to have a child the natural way", he questioned, trying to will the redness out of his face, but failing.

A laughter from Asami was all he got, when she searched the pile of newly bought clothes for her nightgown. Only when she returned from the bathroom after removing her make-up and changing she answered: "Just so you know, I'm quite content with not having children, if that's what it takes to be with Korra." The inventor in her suddenly started thinking, wheels turning. "Unless of course… maybe there's a way for us to…"

"Sami, please don't make men obsolete", Qiang stated in shock, his voice showing that there was no question for him that Asami could actually do that.

* * *

><p>Just when visiting hours started the next morning Asami entered Korra's room to find her girlfriend sitting on the bed engrossed in the daily paper. She looked a lot better, not only because as the Avatar she healed a lot faster, but most importantly because she evidently had refused to be bandaged again. Her skin still looked bruised and battered, but she had apparently been able to dress herself. Now Korra sat with the paper on her lap and a little fire burning in her left hand.<p>

"Where did you get the paper", Asami's question was out before she knew it, and she added the greeting after it.

"Didn't I ever tell you I was the Avatar", so Korra was back to teasing her, "I could make the nurses do striptease if I wanted to."

"So that's what _you _do when I'm not around?"

"Yeah, no", Korra just now looked up and grinned at the other woman, inviting her over for a kiss, "did you see the average nurse? The movers are totally lying to us."

Asami did not really want to know which movers her girlfriend was referring to, and after greeting her properly, she opened the door of the room stating: "You can come in. She's decent. Well, at least dressed." The entire group of Qiang, Tara and Kyoshi poured in.

"We're gathering a crowd", Korra simply stated, but when Tara jumped up and down next to her bed, she helped the girl with her left arm onto her bed and a moment later to sit between her outstretched legs anyways, letting the newspaper fall to the ground. They hugged tightly after that, which made Korra suppress a pained groan.

"You look tired", the Avatar told her daughter; and really, the little girl was rubbing tired eyes with blue bags that looked incredible unattractive on a child.

"She had nightmares and was twisting and turning the entire night", Asami explained, and Tara just nodded and yawned, leaning groggily against her mother.

"How are you, Rainbow", Kyoshi questioned, examining the arm Korra had avoided to move from a distance.

The Avatar nodded towards the nightstand, where a yellowish cup stood, that was definitively not made of clay. She rested her chin on Tara's head when she answered: "They trust me enough to give me a plastic cup." While the little girl giggled because it tickled when Korra spoke, the Avatar showed her left hand and tried to make a fist - there was a whole between her fingers and her palm, big enough for her daughter to slip her hand in. She tried to repeat the same motion with her right hand, but she could not even raise the arm entirely, and clenching her fingers looked more like wiggling her fingertips. "Skin's still pretty tight", she explained meekly, "but I want to get out anyways."

"What about your legs", Asami questioned, since it was odd that Korra would not sit cross-legged.

"Yeah, that's the problem", the Avatar confessed, pulling away the blanket, displaying a bandage on her left foot, "the right one's not working because of the burns, and left one is sprained. But I'm not going back in a wheelchair, so…"

There was a long pause, until Asami questioned: "So…?"

"Either you'll carry me…" Korra could guess the answer to that one. "...or I'll just stay here a day longer." She took a deep breath. "But then I'm going back to the United Forces camp. I want to see what I did there." Suddenly the Avatar grinned. "Also, I shouldn't be driving since I'm under the influence of heavy pain medication."

"Korra, you shouldn't drive. Period", Asami answered, wiping the grin right of her girlfriend's face.

"It's not my fault I'm so bad at it. I had the worst driving instructor ever."

"You crashed my car because you couldn't keep your eyes on the road."

Korra huffed at that and started to sulk when she answered: "So what? With you there I was amazed I could keep my hands on the steering wheel."


	43. Back To Lu

"So, Blue, why are you still around", Korra questioned while smiling at her daughter, who had fallen asleep in her lap.

"You're my commanding officer."

"So I could take you back home and make you do my bidding", Korra was grinning widely at that that prospect, and was not able to read Asami's jealous facial expression.

"If you're into that sorta stuff, sure", the soldier was able to read the engineer's expression, and she looked a bit fearful, but evidently not enough to change the way she talked, "but actually I hoped we could travel back to the camp together, since I have no idea how to get back."

"How did all of you get here", Korra asked, looking at the women in front of her.

"The girl with the arrow flew us on her flying…", Kyoshi started, gesticulating widely since she evidently really did not know what kind of animal Pepper was, "...cattle?"

"And we drove with that car you left at Saki's", Asami answered.

"You stole a military vehicle", Korra questioned with a laugh, "that's so amazing. Also treason. Didn't think you had it in you."

"I would have stolen a tank to see you", the engineer answered matter-of-factly, "but I doubt they have sun visors to store the car keys under."

"It's okay", Korra reassured, "I bloodbended, and I don't think I heard the last of that one."

"You what", Qiang's reaction was full of disbelief.

"Korra, we talked about that", Asami had put her hands on her hips and was shaking her head, "one of these days they won't let you get away with a stunt like that."

"You say it like I wanted to bloodbend", the Avatar complained in frustration, "you know how yucky it is? It's like putting your hands in the entrails of a tiger seal."

"Warm, wet and tasty", the policeman suggested with a grin, "I thought you liked that."

Korra did not react to that interjection, but only pouted: "I don't like to bloodbend." There was a moment of silence, until she remembered the issue at hand: "So Blue and I will drive that military car back to the camp, and you three get back to Republic City, and I'll phone you…" She was looking at Asami, of course. "...when I talked to Iroh."

Asami was about to protest, when Kyoshi was quicker: "If you can't drive, I can't either." She was met with astonishment.

"How are you not able to drive", was the Avatar's question, while her girlfriend's train of thought connected the dots more quickly.

"What is it with you Water Tribers and not being able to drive?"

"I'm not from the Tribes", Kyoshi shook her head almost with disgust, "I'm born and raised in Republic City. I've just been in the military since forever, and I'm pretty sure my dad wouldn't teach me anyways; he's pretty stubborn with what girls can and can't do."

"And he's okay with you being in the military", Qiang questioned sceptically.

Kyoshi just blinked at him: "No." There was an awkward silence.

"So I'm going to drive", Korra reiterated in thought, but was not even halfway through her sentence when she got interrupted.

"No, you're not", of course, it was Asami, "that's a way too long trip for you to drive under the influence."

"And you won't drive them either", Qiang added, "because somehow I need to be able to do my job."

"Now that sounds like the riddle where you have to ferry the armadillo wolf, the koala sheep and the cabbages over the river", Korra said with a grin, and really hoped that someone else was going to solve the puzzle, since her mind was all fuzzy from the medication.

Asami was on it, and she was even smiling: "So you, Kyoshi and the army vehicle need to get back to the camp, and only Qi and I can drive, so we'll drive it over and you'll go by train, if they still service Lu."

"At least cargo trains should", Korra answered with a nod, "as long as the rails are still intact."

The couple nodded satisfied, when Tara stirred in her sleep and they realized they had to keep the child somewhere safe as well. It hit them at the same time: both wanted Tara to chaperone the other pair, but luckily they were able to read each other well enough to see the problem.

"Could you give us a moment", Asami questioned the other two, who shrugged and left the room, mumbling something along the lines of: "What's up with them now?"

"So, who's going to take the kid", Korra tackled the elephant mandrill in the room, "he's your ex, you know."

"It's really not my place to tell you, but Kyoshi is crushing on you big time, and she does not even stop flirting when I'm right next to her."

"She does n-", Korra started, but thought otherwise while still talking, "that really explains a lot."

They looked at each other for some frustrating minutes, when both started at the same time: "I trust you, but not her / him." Both just had to laugh at that.

"Okay, let's look at it objectively", Asami started, frowning, "you might need to take a cargo train to Lu, we might have to stay in the military camp if we can't leave the town. We can get to Lu in a matter of hours, you might need a lot longer. And you're on pain medication." She sighed. "We'll take her." After these words, she seated herself on the edge of Korra's bed, cupping her cheek lovingly. "Just so you know - I don't care that you're the Avatar. If you ever cheat on me, you're going to be the first Avatar to die at the hands of their lover."

Korra shrugged and leaned forward to kiss her girlfriend: "I'm never, ever going to do something to hurt you." Without meaning to, she thought about Mako and her recovery, the time she had run away to find herself and all the stupid decisions she had made in their relationship. "Not willingly."

After a small kiss on the forehead Asami stood up to let the other people in again, but suddenly halted her movement: "Do you think she's pretty?"

Korra looked at her in shock. She knew the right answer, and she knew the truthful answer, and sadly they were different in this case. Her expression told her girlfriend what she thought, so she needed to say something: "Do you think the stars are bright?"

"Sure, else you wouldn't be able to see them at night", Asami answered, cocking an eyebrow.

"But you can't even see them by day, because the sun is so much brighter", Korra was evidently really proud of her answer, "you're my sun. Next to you I can't even see all the less pretty girls."

"Then better not make a habit out of stargazing."

* * *

><p>The same afternoon Asami wanted to tackle finding a train that brought Korra to Lu. They had decided a military camp was a safe enough place for a child to be at the moment (and the Avatar was certain that General Iroh would have no objection in letting them stay there), so they wanted to meet up in Lu and discuss in person how to proceed from there on out.<p>

"Hi, I need a train to Lu for tomorrow", the engineer announced when it was her turn at the counter in the Ba Sin Sei Main Station.

"I'm sorry, Miss, but passenger trains are diverted to other cities because of some natural catastrophe", the lady behind the counter answered with a smile, and Asami had no choice but to think that "natural catastrophe" was a nice nickname for Korra.

"It's not for me, it's for the Avatar", Asami stated, and the woman moved her head to get a better look at her and then sudden realization hit.

"Oh, Miss Sato, I'm sorry I didn't recognize you. Let me see what I can do for you." Evidently someone did read the newspapers in this city. Without another word the woman was gone to search for something.

Even though the words did not sound too threatening, Asami could not help but to feel dread. There was only one kind of person who knew of their relationship - the haters. She steeled herself against whatever sinister plan the lady behind the counter had in mind.

"There's a train scheduled to pass through the town tomorrow", the woman explained when she returned, "it's going to deliver relief supplies and troops to Lu. I think we might be able to get the train to make a stop at the station to pick up Avatar Korra."

Asami just blinked at her, because that did not sound too bad. "Good."

"I'll need to make some phone calls, do you want to wait or should we notify you after we made all the arrangements?"

With a glance to Qiang and Tara, who were standing around some steps back looking incredible bored, Asami just mumbled: "No, take your time. Korra's in the General Hospital, room 101."

The lady wrote that down, but frowned: "If Avatar Korra is in the hospital, maybe you'd want us to contact _you_, Miss Sato?"

That was something Asami had not expected, but it sounded sensible. So she dictated her whereabouts. After all was said and done, the two women just kind of stared at each other.

"So… was that it", the engineer questioned.

"Well, I can't give you a ticket for a train that does not take civilians, and I can't take your money, either. So I'd say: yes, that's it."

"Thank you so much."

And with that, Asami was back to Qiang and Tara, with a still confused expression on her face.

"Everything alright", the bodyguard questioned, and Asami sighed.

"I don't know. I think the lady might be the first to know of our relationship and not mindlessly hate on us."

There was a laughter next to the engineer, and she gave the man the evil eye for that.

"For someone so smart you can be really dumb at times", Qiang stated with a smirk, which did not help the gaze he was getting from the woman, "there are so many people out there who are supporting, and the rest does flatout not care. And still you're focusing on the few haters?"

Asami opened her mouth to protest, but thinking about it, he was right. That mayor of Yi (or was it Xun? The bad guys in any case) came to her mind, but honestly, the more she thought about it, the more she realized he was just an idiot, who probably would have waged the war no matter who Korra was dating.

And the nurse back at the hospital? Asami had to admit she looked pretty suspicious in her pyjamas, and her legal counsellors had warned them that something like that might happen, so it was probably not even her fault she could not let her visit Korra.

Then she thought about the women at Future Industries, and maybe she was now imagining things, since so many stuff had happened since then, but Asami actually thought the kindergarten teacher and that engineer Korra had worked with might have been just overwhelmed with the entire situation. Maybe a bit more truthfulness would have helped.

Of course the media was against them, but the media was for or against almost everything, as long as people bought the newspapers. That guy who had ratted them out, though, had earned her hatred, but she could not even remember his name.

The more she thought, the more she realized that she had no right to be angry at anyone. They had a lot of people who supported them wholeheartedly, most importantly Korra's parents and Tenzin's family (even though someday she was going to explain to Ikki and Jinora why the two of them were a special kind of best friends).

"Sami", Qiang questioned and since it was the third time he had spoken her name, he and Tara boxed the woman to get their attention.

She just looked at their questioning faces and shrugged: "Yeah, okay, whatever you want, we'll do it." And then, just like that, a content smile appeared on her face.


	44. Laughter

**Author's note: **I know what you're thinking: Having Asami happy betrays everything LoK stands for. Don't worry, I'll fix that soon. Also, just so you know: There'll be exactly 50 chapters to this story, so it's finally gonna be over in two weeks.

* * *

><p>When they entered the hotel the station had already called to inform them when Korra's train was arriving, and which platform she had to be at. It was surprisingly easy.<p>

They told Korra the same evening. Her only response was to assure that yes, she would be able to walk to the station in time, and of course after the train ride she would be able to walk to the military camp on her own, even though Asami had told her multiple times she would be able to coax someone into giving her a Satomobile of some sorts so she could pick them up.

So Qiang, Asami and Tara drove back to Lu the next day. Since she was now well rested, the engineer thought she could handle to drive the entire distance herself, while her bodyguard was busy babysitting the child.

When they got the first clear sight of Lu and the mountain, Asami had to pull over and step out. It was breathtaking. The two mountain tops did not look like they belonged to the same mountain anymore, since they had moved so far from one another. There was a deep canyon between the two peaks, and it ended in Lu.

The floor of the crack was black and hard, but Asami was pretty sure that there was still hot lava under that crust. In spite of that, she could already see the first citizens moving around the town.

"What is it", Qiang questioned with eminent worry while stepping out of the car, "are you alright?"

"It's just...", Asami started, unsure of what she thought and felt when she saw the city, "it's like… I'm just overwhelmed this is something Korra could do on her own, you know?" She could have slapped herself for the last question. Of course her bodyguard would not know.

"I get it, I think I felt the same when I saw you building the city", he answered with a short smile, "it's breathtaking how a single woman can be so powerful, isn't it?" Asami nodded at that. "It makes you realize you're never going to achieve that much power, no matter how much you try." She nodded again. "And it makes you question if you'll ever be worthy enough to be with her." She was halfway through another nod when she halted and looked at him.

"Are we still talking about Korra", she just questioned, fixating him with a stare.

Qiang shrugged: "Don't tell me you are not thinking about all the things you can't give her."

"Like what?" She could give Korra everything, she was sure of it.

"Kids", he said it like it was nothing, but it made Asami hurt more than she would have thought, "and I know _you _said you were content with not having own children, but we both saw Korra act with Tara and that airbender kids... "

There was a silence until Asami mumbled: "She does not like men that way, she wouldn't have children either way."

"So she got cheated out of making a conscious decision", Qiang did not sound angry or deceiving, just really curious. No matter what, Asami hated him at the moment.

"And she can't have children, the poison ruined her", she added after some moments.

"So she got cheated out of making a decision twice."

Asami whirled around to face him, and was about to make a rather crude comment when Tara's voice came from the driver's side of the car: "Mom? Are we there yet? What are you doing?"

The mother blinked at her child, then smiled awkwardly: "We're marvelling at what mommy did to the mountain."

Tara climbed out of the car and walked to her mother, raising her hands so that she would be picked up. Then she earnestly looked at what the adults were gaping at. "The mountains", she questioned after some moments.

"Yes, do you remember", Asami explained with a smile, "there was only one mountain some days ago. And Mommy split it."

Tara nodded slowly, as if she needed more time to understand the explanation. "When I split my red trousers, you weren't happy."

"Mommy prevented a war when she split the mountain", Asami mumbled, unfazed by Qiang's laughter next to them, "were you preventing a war when you ripped your trousers because you didn't like their color?"

"Yes", the child had not even taken the time to think about if it was a good idea to lie right now.

"Which war?"

Tara just stared at her mother, surprised by the sudden turn of events. How could she have known Asami would be asking something like that? "Mommy said war is between people of different colors", the girl finally stated like she was a teacher, "if there are no red trousers, there is no war. And all the green trousered people can live happily ever after."

The bodyguard was now leaning against the car, holding his stomach, and laughing so hard Asami thought he might suffocate. She was well composed, but could not stifle a chuckle.

"Just get back in the car everyone, we're almost there."

* * *

><p>"General Iroh", Asami greeted and she bowed, while the person in question saluted.<p>

"Asami? It's so good to see you again! How long has it been?"

"Probably since Kuvira attacked Republic City", Asami answered after a moment's worth of hesitation, "Chief Beifong asked Korra really nicely to stop destroying her city, so your troops aren't needed there anymore."

"I'm still amazed Korra listened", Iroh seemed honestly surprised.

"For now."

"So to what do I owe the honour of this visit?"

"Korra's boarded a train with the reinforcements and is headed this way", Asami explained tersely, "I drove one of your cars over, because she's still on medication, and I hoped I could stay one night in the camp, since the town is still mostly evacuated." Iroh nodded, partly to show that he approved and partly to motion her to go on. "And I hoped you could lend me a car to pick her up from the station."

Iroh turned to the soldier behind him to give some orders: "Prepare the Avatar's tent."

"For how many persons", the soldier questioned, and Asami answered when the general gave her an encouraging smile.

"And send Kuruk our way", Iroh added while the soldier was already halfway out of the tent. Asami knew the name "Kuruk", but could not remember the face the name belonged to.

"Who's the fourth person, if you don't mind me asking", the general questioned, now that they were alone. He was preparing some tea.

"Chief Beifong ordered one of her men to guard me at all times."

"And there I thought the Avatar would make a good bodyguard", Iroh seemed confused when he brought a cup of tea over to his guest.

"But she is in Ba Sin Sei, and Qi is behind that curtain", Asami answered with a slight grin, pointing to the door behind her, and sipped on her cup.

Another soldier entered the tent and saluted. He clearly was a Water Triber with his dark skin and brown hair, and he wore a gray uniform, which Asami could not correlate with any division, but she knew the gray band around his upper arm meant he was a nonbender like her. If he was Kuruk, then Asami was quite sure she had never seen him before. Evidently she just knew somebody of the same name.

"Kuruk, we have a special delivery coming to us by train, and Miss Sato here is going with you to pick it up. Please assign her one of the Satomobiles", Iroh ordered without missing a beat, even though Asami found it more than amusing.

"What kind of delivery", Kuruk questioned, looking the engineer over suspiciously.

"The Avatar", the general answered with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, which made the soldier brighten up instantly.

"And Ky", Kuruk questioned.

"Asami, did you come across a Lieutenant Kyoshi", Iroh rephrased, and the engineer suddenly remembered that Kuruk was the last Water Tribe Avatar, so that was where she had heard the name before.

"Yes, she and Korra are together", she answered and saw the men scowl, which made her question if she had missed some important information here. Nonetheless, her sentence sounded wrong out loud, it triggered her jealousy, so she added: "You know, on that train."

Both men's eyes widened in comprehension, before the general said: "Good, because the next time I have to take disciplinary actions against that kid I need to discharge her, best fighter of the bunch or not." Kuruk just sighed in frustration.

There were some awkward moments where nobody dared to utter a single word, until the soldier spoke up: "So I'll give…Miss Sato…" That man was clearly not used to people under his command having honorifics and last names. "...a uniform and one of the cars and let her be in charge of the Avatar and Ky?"

Iroh nodded slightly: "Regarding the uniform - you can handle her like we handle the Avatar. She's staying in her tent, too."

Kuruk saluted again, then turned to Asami and bowed slightly. "Follow me, Miss."

When they stepped out of the tent, the soldier found himself eye to eye with a toddler, hold up by a Republic City policeman. Tara shrieked, Qiang laughed, Asami considered claiming not to know these two.

"How did it go", Qiang questioned, following his protégée, who in turn followed the soldier.

"I told you I would get a car and I got a car", Asami answered and rolled her eyes, "do you mind watching Tara? The train will arrive way past her bedtime."

The policeman just shrugged in defeat, he had clearly moved past the point of no return in his transformation from police officer to babysitter: "Just promise me: No stargazing. And no 'stargazing'."

Asami turned to growl at him and ran right into the soldier, who had stopped in front of a medium sized tent with a rainbow band on the front - it was obvious whom it belonged to. When they looked inside, they saw other soldiers preparing folding cots for them and moving grates out (evidently, while the Avatar was absent, her space was used to store something).

While they stood at the entrance of the tent, waiting for the soldiers to finish, Kuruk cleared his throat. "Miss, if you don't mind me asking", he asked not even looking at her, "is that necklace of the Northern or Southern tribe?"

Asami touched the betrothal necklace when she answered: "Southern, I think, is there a difference?"

"Southern necklaces are more sturdy, the Northern ones are usually more delicate, probably reflecting the role women play in these tribes", he answered, still looking at her neck, "yours looks like it's somewhere in between, and I didn't think a Southerner would make something this ornamental."

"Probably because it's bended, not crafted", Asami answered with a smile, which Kuruk returned.

"So it's the Avatar's", he questioned, and when the woman showed slight surprise, "there are not that many earthbenders in the South." Asami just nodded, when he moved his head to point at Qiang, who was still holding Tara and watching what was happening in Korra's tent. "So what's his business? Are you like the Avatar's harem?"

"What? No", she spat in disgust, eyes wide and cheeks burning, "where would you even get that idea?"

Kuruk shrugged: "Everybody knows."

"Everybody knows what?"

"The Avatar bends both ways."

Qiang was the first to react - he cracked up. Asami needed a lot more time to even understand what the soldier was implying (which was not made easier due to the background noises), and when it hit her she was not able to say one word or another.

Tara on the other hand quickly understood what was happening, and being the well-spoken child that she was, she corrected: "The Avatar bends _four _ways." Qiang collapsed after that, unable to breath.


	45. Anger Management

Qiang tried hard to pull himself together, to just breath in and out without thinking how absolutely hilarious everything was. When he saw Asami's angry face he started laughing again.

But the engineer was not even angry with him, but with the soldier who should guide them. Kuruk certainly looked innocently from one person to the other, not grasping that he had done wrong.

"I have to tell you, not _everybody _knows: Korra for one didn't get the memo", Asami explained through clenched teeth.

"Really", Kuruk questioned with confusion.

"Actually I'm not sure if any of the last five Avatars were into men", she mumbled, thinking about the conversation with her parents-in-law.

"Good to know", the soldier said, stroking his chin in thought.

Qiang had calmed again, and he showed it by butting in: "Hey Sami, can I tell Korra what everybody knows?" He got a cold glance in return. "Please? I'll never call you 'pudgy' again."

"You never called me 'pudgy' in the first place."

"Not to your face, no."

"Can we please get going", Asami questioned Kuruk, but it somehow sounded like an order, and the soldier shrugged, but started to walk to his next destination.

"Tara", the woman called, but Tara defiantly shook her hand.

"I wanna stay here with Qi", she explained, and her mother turned around before the child would be able to see her hurt expression.

So it was down to Kuruk and Asami, walking through the military camp on their own. Since the topic of the conversation was already pretty private, the woman decided to just ask what burned on the back of her mind: "Why did Kyoshi face disciplinary actions?"

Kuruk pointed to the right and both walked that way, then he rubbed his chin again, clearly embarrassed: "It's all a big misunderstanding. She's just cuddly."

"Cuddly?"

"Yeah, she might have slept on the wrong cot or in the wrong barracks at some point."

Asami sucked the air in clearly auditable. She really tried trusting Korra, but with that girl by her side it was getting incredible difficult. Also, she thought "cuddly" was hardly the word she would use. But the most prominent thought was: she could not imagine getting comfortable by herself on one of those folding cots - she had no idea how two people could even fit there.

"Ky's a great fighter", he defended the other soldier while entering one tent and rummaging through the content of some grates there, "and she's usually pretty good in following orders without thinking." He held up a gray uniform and one of the bands marking the type of bending she was able to do. "I figure you can have the rainbow band, like the Avatar. Try not to look too much like her, else the soldiers will assume you can bend four elements."

Asami took the clothes with visible scepticism: "Do I have to wear this?"

"General Iroh said we'll handle you like we handle the Avatar", Kuruk explained while leading the way again, "you're her fiancé, so tell me: does she have to wear an uniform?"

There was a pause for the engineer to think things over, biting her lower lip. "Yes", she finally decided, "I think she has to wear the uniform, she just doesn't." Kuruk shrugged, not sure what to tell her.

They walked to some kind of parking area, where a lot of vehicles stood. A few of them were being inspected and repaired at the moment, and all of the soldiers working there had gray uniforms (with all kinds of upper arm band colors), so Asami figured that gray meant something like machinist.

Before she knew it Kuruk had gotten her the keys to the exact same Satomobile she had driven from and to Ba Sin Sei, and was filing some paperwork on its hood, while she had the time to watch the sunset and the way the split mountain contrasted with the purple sky.

"Ku", someone screamed from across the parking lot, making the two of them look at a blue clad soldier running over. Asami thought it was weird how people gave each other nicknames that sounded like bird chirps.

When the healer came over, he hugged Kuruk tightly in some kind of greeting, then held him on arm's length: "Did you hear? Ky was attacked in Ba Sin Sei."

Kuruk's eyes widened: "What? When?" After he gave the other soldier only a second to answer, he added: "And why would anyone attack _her_?" Asami had an answer to the last question, but she thought she would learn more if she just kept quiet.

"Well, you know who she's spending quality time with", the healer questioned with a sly smirk, and Kuruk nodded, while Asami tried to ignore the bottomless pit opening in her stomach, "well, probably she got attacked, but you know Ky. I heard the attacker was some Yi soldier, the operative word being 'was'."

"I once saw the Avatar bend an entire canal at a twenty-five stories tall mecha suit", Asami interrupted, since she thought it might be a good time to remind everyone that Korra did not need protection from anyone, much less from that girl.

"You call that impressive", the blue clad soldier asked with a grin, "I once saw Ky defeat a dozen enemy soldiers with only a thimbleful of water."

"I once saw her almost kill a man using nothing but healing", the Kurruk added, and both men started to laugh.

When they calmed down, the healer continued: "They called my superior because they didn't know how to treat her, and if they should even bring her here instead of leaving her in Ba Sin Sei, but he wouldn't tell me anything more. You know, _flipping _command structure."

"Could I ask a question", Asami mumbled, waving awkwardly at them, "which one of them is hurt?"

"Dunno", the healer stated in frustration, "I'm just a lowly minion. Nobody talks to me."

"Nobody is really hurt", Kuruk gave her a reassuring smile, "they would have told me if we needed to prepare some kind of ambulance service from the train station." He grinned at the other soldier, pointing his head at the woman. "You know, that's the kind of new recruit they supply for picking Ky up."

The healer examined her top to bottom, then mumbled: "As long as they don't put her under Ky's command we'll be good." Then he saluted for Asami: "Welcome, private." He hesitated a moment, before he added: "I'm Sokka, one of the healers. What is it with you city girls all wanting to join the army all of a sudden?"

Asami huffed at that and crossed her arms in front of her: "I'm not joining the army. I'm just picking up my wife from the station."

Sokka's eye twitched for a moment, then he looked at Kuruk, mouthing a word the woman was not able to read. The gray clad soldier just grinned: "Oh, how could I forget? She's the Avatar's fiancé."

"Bro, you bastard", Sokka laughed and boxed his (apparent) brother. The healer turned back a second after: "Sorry, ma'am. Don't worry about our sister, though, she's a good person, just a bit too physical around her friends. Or anybody, really."

"Sister", Asami echoed.

"Yeah, isn't it obvious", Sokka laughed charmingly, "Kuruk, Kyoshi, Sokka… of course we share the same parents!"

Now that she knew, it _was _obvious. And they looked a lot alike, too. Well, honestly, all Water Tribers looked similar to her, the three could be Korra's siblings as well. Or Tara's. Which was what Kyoshi had used to get into the hospital.

"Well, Miss, there are still some hours till we have to go get them", Kuruk explained, "there's a curfew in this camp, and since the sun is already down, you can't leave the camp or enter the men's barracks." He shrugged. "I don't think that's going to be very hard for you." Then he turned to his brother: "Sokka, bring her back to the Avatar's tent. I'm going to talk to someone, I'll try to find out if the two girls really are okay."

The healer nodded and motioned for Asami to follow him, when he walked back through the camp.

"Don't worry, ma'am, Avatar Korra will be alright", Sokka mumbled, trying to make her feel better.

"I heard about the disciplinary measures", Asami spat, looking at the colorful flags in front of the tents and trying to guess what they mean, to keep herself from thinking too much about Korra and that girl.

"Did you see Ky interact with your…", he glanced down at her necklace for a moment, only now recognizing it for what it was, "...fiancé?" The woman nodded, and he smiled warmly. "Did she flirt?" He got a cold, jealous glance. "See, that's how you know everything is alright", he had the same smirk as his sister when he talked, which was a bad thing, since now Asami wanted to hit him, too, "Dad used to say: barking polar dogs do not bite. When she stops flirting because she doesn't want to scare them off, that's when you should get worried."

Asami was not sure if she should feel better after that, but somehow she did, at least a little. She still would feel very relieved when Korra was back with her safe and sound. Spirits, she rather had Korra go into another war without bending than staying with Kyoshi.

They had arrived at the rainbow tent, and by now the soldiers had cleared out the room. The cots however, stood in upright, leaned against each other, and there were blankets draped over them. There was no sign of Qiang and Tara anywhere.

Sokka saluted and left Asami to herself. When she stepped into the tent she heard giggling.

"Hello", she called into the room, and suddenly realized what the folding cots where.

"We build a blanket fort", Tara confirmed her guess from the space in the middle of the blanket fort.

"You know what? I'm going to check if anyone in the women's barracks has a storybook for me to read to you, sweetie", Asami stated, because she really needed to start paying attention to Tara more, "you two, clean up and get ready for bed."

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><p>Asami was in luck for once - one of the female soldiers had a children's book she could borrow, for reasons she did not dare to question. So for the first time in days she was able to read to Tara, and for once the child did not complain that she rather wanted one of Qiang's stories (but to be fair, the girl was clever, she probably knew she might get one later when her mother was away).<p>

After that, she could not really do much, since all their stuff was still in Saki's cottage, maybe covered by lava, and they had only bought the bare essentials in Ba Sin Sei. So she used the time to actually dress in the uniform Kuruk had provided for her.

"Why do you have the rainbow band", Qiang questioned quietly when he was allowed to turn back to her after she had finished changing.

"I don't know", she just whispered back, since it looked like Tara was already sleeping, "probably so that everyone knows I'm the Avatar's property."

He showed her his neck when he spoke: "You might want to remove the necklace."

"No! The only reason it's not buried in lava is because I'm wearing it all the time", came the reply, and Asami was clutching it with a loving expression, "I don't want to lose it."

The policeman opened his mouth to protest, tell her that soldiers where not supposed to wear jewelry, but stayed quiet when he realized it was not about the betrothal necklace - it was about what it stood for. Asami was worried she would lose Korra, and for the first time not to death, but to another woman.

"Is this your sleepwear", she questioned and jerked him out of his train of thought.

"Yeah, you said we both should get ready for bed, so I did, too."

Maybe Asami should have realized that something here was off. Or at least some minutes later, when she almost kissed him in a goodbye gesture and was then left to wave awkwardly as she quickly exited the tent to meet with the other soldiers. For some reason it just felt natural having him around.

But the time she actually thought about what that meant was cut short, because the entire military experience was new to her, and she actually liked it. She had always hated people acting on her looks alone, but now she stood in a line of people dressed exactly alike, saluted and bellowed "Yes, Sir!" at the appropriate times. After that they spread out to man the vehicles, and they drove agonizingly slow to the station. By now it was pitch-black, even the moon was covered by clouds, and the train station was only dimly lit by two lanterns.

When they arrived, everyone except her moved to unload the train into the vehicles, including the soldiers that had been on the train. Asami already though she might have missed her girlfriend and was impatiently hopping from one foot to the other below one of the lanterns, facing the train, when she heard Kyoshi's voice.

"No, I'm sure everyone is gone, no worries."

And then she saw them exiting one of the wagons, holding hands, and her heart stopped. Kyoshi actually looked left and right before climbing down the stairs leading to the platform, but either she was not looking for someone dressed like a soldier, or she could not distinguish Asami's gray clothes from the darkness around her.

When the red clad soldier had firm ground again, she turned around, even going so far as taking Korra's other hand, pulling her from the platform and almost into her arms. They were lovingly gazing into each other's eyes after that for some moments.

"Do you see Asami", Korra questioned, not even bothering to look around herself, but just grinning at the soldier with her usual smile.

Kyoshi glanced around the moment Asami thought she might either burst or at long last hit someone, and when their eyes met, she got scared: "She's coming. Awkward." At least the soldier let go of Korra, but just to position herself behind the Avatar, using her as a human shield.

"Hi Asami", Korra waved at her with an uneasy grin, and the thing that made Asami tip over the edge was that she was not able to even look straight at her.

The engineer had no history of domestic violence whatsoever (only with throwing stuff in Korra's general direction, but the Avatar was a master of not getting hit by that), so this time, when her cumulative anger produced a fist right into Korra's nose, it was a very first.

Asami stormed away the moment her fist had connected, before her still-girlfriend could say anything more than "ouch".

"Asami wait", Korra shouted, but she made no effort to move from where she stood. The last think Asami could hear were whispered words echoing through the station: "Uh… Ky? Can I room with you tonight?" She could do nothing more than to cry after that.


	46. Stubborn

**Author's note: **You guys, we need to talk. I've received a lot of really emotional responses to the last chapter - and I'm sorry, I didn't mean to anger, hurt or snub any of you. On the other hand… the story is finished, and I'm not going back on it now. So as a kind of peace offering I'll post this chapter a little sooner (and maybe the next one, too). So can we be friends again? ó.ò

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><p>By the time Asami had arrived at the stupid Avatar's tent, she had calmed down enough so that she was not crying anymore. And she only had to drive around Lu until her fuel tank was empty, she thought that was pretty quick. She was still angry, though.<p>

With a swift motion she unbuttoned her jacket and threw it on the floor, then got out of her shoes and tossed them on top of it. The moment they hit the ground with a thud, Qiang shot up on his cot and looked at her confused.

"What's up", he questioned and rubbed his eyes while he stood up to walk over to her, so they would not need to raise their voices too much, "where's Korra?"

"With Kyoshi", Asami spat angrily and let her trousers slip to the ground, making him blink at her in confusion.

"But weren't you supposed to pick the two of them up at…", he trailed off when Asami removed her shirt, and he starred for some moments, but then turned around, a blush spreading to his cheeks.

"Grow up", the woman said, "that's nothing you haven't seen before."

"You're the Avatar's girlfriend, and I'm not stupid", he grumbled.

"Honestly, I don't think I am anymore." Qiang peeked over his shoulder and saw that Asami now had her nightgown on, and was miserably looking down at her feet. He was completely overwhelmed with the situation, and no police academy could have prepared him for how to react now. So he did what he thought was right(ish) and turned around to hug her.

While she was stiff at first, she relaxed into his embrace after just seconds and started crying freely. The policeman just rubbed lazy circles on her back and tried to not think too much about what was happening.

When she had calmed again, he went to get his blanket to throw it around her shoulders, and took her wrist to pull her out of the tent: "Come on, let's walk around for a bit. We won't want to wake Tara. Tell me what happened."

And so they walked in big circles around the stupid Avatar's tent (so that they could hear if Tara called for them), and Asami explained what she had seen, even though the way she told it, it could have been a romance novel.

He did not know what to answer, so he only repeated over and over that there was probably a very good explanation for what Asami had seen. When they entered the tent after what felt like hours he realized he had not even be able to convince himself.

* * *

><p>Qiang's mind was numb when he packed everything Tara had spread around the room while playing. That did not take long, and since everytime he stopped to sit down his mind wandered, he folded and refolded Asami's uniform on her cot to keep his hands busy.<p>

He could not believe Korra would do such a thing, even though what Asami had told him sounded really suspicious. And he was quite sure that if anyone knew what female friends did and what romantic interactions where, it would be his ex-girlfriend.

But the thought he had to banish more often than any other was, that if Asami and Korra really were to split up, he might have a second chance with the former. They had become close, and he and Tara got along so well, and it might just work out this time.

So just to not dwell on that for too long, he folded the uniform for the twenty sixth time. It was still not perfect, so he redid his work.

"Asami", a female voice shouted, and he realized the engineer had been right - Kyoshi made him want to punch her as well.

"What do you want", he answered and crossed his arms in front of his chest before turning around to the entrance where she stood, "where's Korra?"

"She's with my brother", came the answer, "I came to scout."

"And you don't think that's kinda inappropriate", Qiang stomped over to the soldier to look down at her.

"No, why would it", the question sounded so innocent he was almost inclined to believe her, "listen, buddy, I don't know what she told you, but neither of us even knows what her problem was yesterday."

"So there was no lingering handholding, no loving glances and no waiting till the coast is clear last night?"

Kyoshi looked at him in shock for some moments, her eyes wide. "Technically speaking, there were all of these things. But…"

"Listen, _buddy_", Qiang stated, unknotting his arms to shove the soldier, "Asami has gone to find us a ride back to Republic City. And if she leaves here without Korra, I'm pretty sure she will just burn everything Korra owns and they will break up for good and all thanks to you!"

"It's not my _flipping _fault", Kyoshi snarled at him, "what did I even do?"

Qiang was about to answer, when he saw Korra out of the corner of his eyes, walking their way. She was strutting towards them, leaving them to kind of stare at her.

"Stop", Kyoshi's words came a moment too late - even though the Avatar must have seen her, she ran right into her, almost knocking her over. He had no chance as to agree with Asami from the first moment - these two were way too comfortable when they were close to each other.

"Uff, sorry", Korra mumbled, and gripped Kyoshi's arm right above her elbow, where it rested some moments before she spoke again,"Ky, did you see Asami?"

The soldier did not answer, but cursed before removing Korra's uniform jacket without even asking, turning it inside out and helping her to put it on again. Evidently the Avatar had dressed in the dark, and she had not realized she had worn the jacket the wrong way. After that was done, Korra's hand came to rest on Kyoshi's arm again.

"See", Qiang butted in, pointing at Korra, then at her hand specifically, "that's exactly the problem!"

"What's the problem", Korra had leaned to the other woman to ask the question.

"Your hand", the soldier whispered back. The Avatar reacted promptly, sliding her hand from Kyoshi's upper arm down to her wrist. It was no wonder Asami had punched her the night before, Qiang wanted to do the same thing right now.

"So, where is she", Korra questioned, and the policeman realized that Korra did not look into his eyes either, so at least she felt some kind of remorse. Which, when he thought about it, was not a good thing, because it meant she had done something to feel remorse about.

"Where is she and how is she", Kyoshi added.

"Doesn't matter", the Avatar shook her head, "we have to tell her anyways. She'll understand."

"Yeah, because last night she was all listening and understanding", Kyoshi mumbled angrily, "you sure she's not on her period?"

"Yes", Korra spat, and Qiang was left to look at them alternatingly. They had moved from friends to old married couple really fast.

"Where is Asami", both asked impatiently at the same time.

"What happened to your face", he questioned Korra rather suddenly. Since the Avatar had taken a step back out of the entrance of the tent, the rising sun now illuminated her face from a different angle, and it looked like someone had thrown a paintball at her head, because there was a big splotch of red skin covering almost her entire face, centered around her swollen nose.

"Asami hit me", Korra answered truthfully, "Ky's brother tried to heal it, but he said that's the best any healer can do."

"And the red skin is from when she got attacked by some _flipping _idiot with acid", Kyoshi added.

"It's still red", Korra questioned the soldier, and when she shrugged, her face turned to Qiang again, "where. Is. My. Wife."

"I don't think she wants to be called that right now", Qiang answered in a malicious voice, "she even left your necklace here when she went to find a way for the three of us to get back to Republic City."

"But… but we said we would talk before you guys left", Korra stammered with an helpless expression. She suddenly shook her head as if to clear it: "Okay, let's start at the beginning. What did she tell you why she hit me?"

Qiang looked with an annoyed expression at Korra, then at her friend, then back at her. What kind of stupid question was that?

"He's looking at me", Kyoshi whispered, and Korra sighed.

"But she knew we would travel together", the Avatar mumbled.

"Now he's looking at our hands", the soldier prompted, making Korra finally release her grip on the other woman's arm. Now the policeman thought Asami was wrong. He did not want to hit these women - he wanted to overrun them with a tank.

"If you narrate what I do one more time I swear I'll make you look like Korra, red splosh and swollen nose and everything", Qiang threatened the soldier, waving his fist in front of her face.

"Do I really look that bad", Korra questioned in honest confusion, "is that why she hit me?"

"I think now he wants to hit you instead, he's looking at you all angry", Kyoshi mumbled, and that was it. Qiang had promised to punch that stupid face in, and now he would do it. But when he lifted his hand and saw how the soldier flinched, while Korra just stared ahead like she had the entire time, he suddenly understood what was happening.

"Spirits, Korra, you should have said something", he breathed out in relief while he lowered his hand, "you're blind!"

"I'm not blind", Korra huffed and sounded hurt, "I just can't see very well right now."

"Blind and stubborn."


End file.
